Del Potro beats Istomin, plays Federer next at Indian Wells

Juan Martin del Potro fulfilled all the expectations as he overcame Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan, winning 7-6 (2)  6-7 (6)  6-2 and setting up a match against Roger Federer in the quarterfinals of the Indian Wells Tennis Masters.

The Argentine broke Istomin’s serve in the 5th game and was serving for the first set at 5-4, but a couple of unforced errors gave the big hitting Uzbek the opportunity to break back and force a tiebreak. Del Potro re-grouped once more and won it 7-2.

The second set was almost a copy of the first one, but with one minor detail – this time it was Istomin who broke Del Potro to go 5-4 up and got a chance to close the set out with his own serve. But the Argentine broke back and the crowd was about to witness another tiebreak. This time it was a lot tighter and the Uzbek levelled the match by taking the breaker 8-6.

In the third set, it was all about one man. Del Potro started it with an important break that gave him the psychical edge. After taking Istomin’s serve once more to go up 5-2, the match was all over.

Next up for Del Potro will be the 16 time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer, who defeated Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil in three sets 3-6  6-3  6-4.

Tags ATP Tennis BNP Paribas Open Denis Istomin Indian Wells Results Juan Martin del Potro Roger Federer tennis news