Making his return after a gap of over a month, former US Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro got off to a winning start at the ATP Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart with a straight-set victory against Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov on Tuesday.
The Argentine, who had pulled out of the recently-concluded French Open due to chronic wrist injury, looked in sublime touch as he needed just one hour and nine minutes to cruise for a routine 6-4 6-2 triumph on Center Court.
The unseeded Del Potro dropped just two off his 29 points on first serve, fired 12 aces, and managed to break Dimitrov’s service thrice to hand over the latter his fourth first-round defeat in as many tournaments this season.
Moving on to the second round, Del Potro has been slated to cross the swords with 66th-ranked Australian John Millman, who scored an upset conquest of 8th seed Lucas Pouille of France 6-7 6-3 6-4 in the other opening-round battle.
Elsewhere, American teenager Taylor Fritz set up a second-round clash with top-seeded Swiss Roger Federer after saving a match point and serving out 19 aces en route a 3-6 7-6 6-1 survival over French qualifier Fabrice Martin.
It was, however, a tough day in the office for some of the seeds – including No. 5 seed Feliciano Lopez of Spain and No. 6 seed Viktor Troicki of Serbia – both of whom suffered straight-set defeats to their respective first-round counterparts.
BRIEF RESULTS
T Fritz d. (Q) F Martin 3-6 7-6 6-1
(Q) F Mayer d. (6) V Troicki 6-4 7-6
(Q) S Stakhovsky d. (W) J Choinski 6-3 (ret.)
M Youzhny d. (5) F Lopez 7-6 6-3
J Millman d. (8) L Pouille 6-7 6-3 6-4
(W) JMD Potro d. G Dimitrov 6-4 6-2
J Struff d. M Baghdatis 4-6 6-1 6-4
(7) P Kohlschreiber d. P Herbert 6-4 6-1
D Kudla d. D Lajovic 6-0 6-2
(Q) R Stepanek d. D Istomin 7-5 3-6 6-3
