Delpo Dominates Clay-Courter Ramos-Vinolas
One year ago, Juan Martin del Potro fell in the third round at Roland Garros against No. 1 seed Andy Murray. The Argentine, then No. 30 in the ATP Rankings, was still working his way back from multiple wrist surgeries, so winning a couple matches in his first appearance on the terre battue since 2012 was a positive step.
But one year later, things have changed in a massive way. Del Potro is the No. 5 seed in Paris, and on Saturday he cruised into the Round of 16 with a 7-5, 6-4, 6-1 victory against 2017 Monte-Carlo finalist Albert Ramos-Vinolas.
It is the 29-year-old’s third trip to the fourth round at the clay-court Grand Slam championship. But perhaps it is the year that he will better his career-best semi-final showing from 2009, when he lost to Roger Federer. Del Potro, who won his maiden ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title in March at the BNP Paribas Open, is also climbing toward his career-best ATP Ranking of No. 4. The World No. 6 is pushing for a return to the Top 5 for the first time since the week of 24 February 2014.
The ‘Tower of Tandil’ moved past Ramos-Vinolas in two hours, 18 minutes, and he has now won all six of his sets against the Spaniard in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series. While the scoreline appears straightforward, the action was not.
Ramos-Vinolas managed to break at two of five opportunities, breaking Del Potro as the Argentine served for the first set and later gaining an early lead in the second set. But 22-time tour-level titlist Del Potro crucially raised his level at the end of the first two sets, breaking to win both. And after taking a two-set lead, Del Potro rode the momentum to his second consecutive straight-sets triumph. He broke six times in the match, hitting 32 winners en route to the victory.
The Tandil native, who also lifted the trophy in Acapulco this year, will next play No. 9 seed John Isner or home favourite Pierre-Hugues Herbert for a spot in the quarter-finals.
Did You Know?
Juan Martin del Potro's match against Albert Ramos-Vinolas was the fourth meeting between an Argentine and a Spaniard at Roland Garros this year. The Spanish player had won on each of the three previous occasions, but it is the Argentine moving into the Round of 16.