Juan Martin del Potro gallery

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 15:53

20 year-old Juan Martin del Potro is through to his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 semi-final as he overcame world No.1 Rafael Nadal 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 in Thursday’s quarter-final.

It was a huge result for the 20-year-old Argentine as he only lost to Rafa at the same stage two weeks ago in Indian Wells. After the match, Del Potro emphasised how his mindset helped him to win:

“I start to enjoy the match, the people, the crowds, the quarter-finals, and I start to play more relaxed and more aggressive, too,” said del Potro when down two breaks in the final set.

“Then the match going different… When I was 5-4, I say, now I can beat him. That’s was a big difference in my mind.”

When talking about how this performance differed from previous matches against Rafa he said:

“Because always I was keep going and keep trying. I beat him with my mind and with my game. When we played long points, I was dominating every time, so that was the key of the last set, of the tie-break.”

World No.1 Rafa was looking for his first ever Sony Ericsson Open title this week and Thursdays defeat to del Potro ends his 11-match winning streak. Nadal talked about his performance after the match:

I didn’t came back very strong, said Nadal.

He started to make a lot of mistakes; I think I played really badly all the time. That’s the truth of the match. Later when I have 3-0 in the third set I played worse.

It was an amazing disaster. I think he didn’t play an unbelievable match, but I didn’t play on my best level today. But anyway, I want to congratulate for my team and del Potro. He started the season playing well. It’s a good win for him.

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