Juan Marin Del Potro’s run at the Delray Beach Open has ended with a 6-3, 7-6(6), loss to top seed Milos Raonic in the semifinals.
The Argentine was participating in his first tournament of the year after delaying the start to the season due to fitness concerns. Facing the formidable Raonic, Del Potro was unable to tame his opponents powerful serve, which featured 17 aces. Del Potro’s only chance in the match occurred towards the end of the second set when he broke back to force a tiebreaker. The former US Open champion then had a set point opportunity, but failed to convert as the Canadian won three straight points to book his place in the final.
“I think my game can keep improving a lot. I played with less 50 per cent of my backhand tonight and Milos kept attacking that,” del Potro said after the match. “If you’re not 100 per cent against the top guys, it’s difficult to win. I have to keep working hard to improve that.”
Seeded seventh in the tournament, Del Potro has shown signs of his promising form continuing from last year with wins over Sam Querrey, Damir Dzumhur and Kevin Anderson earlier in the week. His next challenge will be at the upcoming Acapulco Open in Mexico, which features six top-10 players in the draw.
Top seed Raonic will now play in his 20th ATP final and his first since the 2016 Wimbledon championships. Speaking about his route into the final, the world No.3 said the key to his win over Del Potro was avoiding his troublesome forehand.
“You want to stay away from giving him two shots in a row on the forehand side,” Raonic said. “From any side of the court, he’s very dangerous there, especially if he gets a rhythm on it.”
On Sunday Raonic will face Jack Sock for the title. Sock, who won the ASB Classic earlier this year in Auckland, battled to a 6-4, 7-6(2), win over compatriot Donald Young. The world No.21 is now set to re-enter the world’s top 20 following his run to the final.
“I’ve definitely been playing with a lot of confidence so far this year,” Sock said. “I started out the year with a title, which is the most ideal situation. It gives you that much more confidence going into the rest of the tournaments. I feel very strong, physically (and) mentally. The last few days I feel like I have a clear game plan of what I’m doing out there.”
The upcoming final will be the 11th clash between the two players on the tour. Raonic currently has a dominant 8-2 head-to-head lead, however, Sock won their most recent meeting at the 2016 Shanghai Masters.
“We’ve played a lot of times and I’ve been quite successful against him,” Raonic said about playing Sock. “The last time he got me, but it’s been always close each time. We’ve played a bunch of tiebreakers.”
The Delray Beach final is scheduled to start at 15:00 (GMT-5) on Sunday.
