Little over a month ago few would have given Juan Martin del Potro a chance in his quest to qualify for the ATP Finals in London at the end of the season. The tall Argentine has defied the odds though to pull himself within a single match win of reaching the coveted Finals.
Del Potro defeated Robin Haase, who had stunned world No. 4 Alexander Zverev in the second round, 7-5, 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals. Del Potro trailed Pablo Carreno Busta by 190 points going into Paris. With the Spaniard losing in the second round to Nicolas Mahut, Del Potro knows that just one more win will see him move into the final qualification spot for London.
Del Potro’s dream is almost a reality thanks to a remarkable run. He reached the semi-finals in Shanghai, before winning in Stockholm, and reaching the final in Basel.The run accumulated 970 points in just three tournaments, with an minimum of 180 points to be added to his total after the Paris tournament.
Every competitor still in the running who was ahead of the Argentine in the Race to London promptly lost their opening matches in Paris. Sam Querrey suffered a shock second round loss to Filip Krajinovic, whilst Kevin Anderson failed to close out a set lead against Fernando Verdasco, losing to the veteran left-hander in three sets at the same stage as Querrey.
Those results mean that del Potro’s fate in his quest for London now lies in his own hands. After his win over Haase only one man can stop him. It will be a seeded player, as he will take on the winner of the third round match between 9th seed John Isner and 6th seed Grigor Dimitrov.
Del Potro owns a 6-2 head-to-head record with Isner. The Argentine has won the last meetings in straight sets including their sole match on the tour this season in Montreal. He also owns a 6-2 record against Dimitrov. Remarkably, the pair have met four times in 2017, with the year record 2-2. Del Potro won the most recent meeting against an out-of-sorts Dimitrov in the Stockholm final.
Del Potro has appeared in London four times, with his best effort reaching the final in the first year it was held in the British capital, 2009. He defeated Roger Federer, Fernando Verdasco, and Robin Soderling, before losing to Nikolay Davydenko in the final.
