Juan Martín del Potro, in his quiet and ambling fashion, has built up a steady body of work on his return to the tournament he won in 2009, and, with the crowd warming to every pistol crack of his huge forehand, he enters the quarter-finals on Wednesday as a dangerous contender.
As with Andy Murray, the scene of his breakthrough major will always hold a special place in his heart, and the Argentinian seemed energised against the Austrian Dominic Thiem, who quit after only an hour and 12 minutes of their match on Arthur Ashe Court with a knee injury, when 6-3 and 3-2 down.
That took Del Potro’s total court time in four matches to eight hours and 21 minutes, blessed relief for a player who is still picking up the rhythm of the Tour after missing so much tennis with a lingering wrist injury over the past two years. He played only four matches last year, to Thiem’s 64, and 10 the year before compared with Thiem’s 45. This is Del Potro’s his first grand slam quarter-final since Wimbledon 2013. He faces Stan Wawrinka, who later beat Illya Marchenko in four sets.
“It is a good win. I wish all the best to Dominic. He has great future,” the unseeded Olympic silver medallist said. “I really don’t know what’s going on but I have a good connection with the people of New York City. I am far away in Argentina but I feel at home here, in this stadium, in this city. I don’t know if I’m playing better than in 2009, but I keep winning.”
The Argentinian’s absence – he missed nine successive grand slam events – has sent his ranking south and, at 142 in the world, he is the lowest-rated to reach the quarter-finals since Jimmy Connors (174) 25 years ago. The American went on to lose in the semi-finals. There was a certain irony in Thiem’s retirement: the 23-year-old’s 69 matches for the year is the most of any player on the Tour, more than twice Del Potro’s 30. Managing resources is a skill in itself and the former US champion looks as if he has mastered it. Despite his injury woes, it was clear who was the most weary on court on Monday afternoon.
Thiem called for the trainer after struggling through the latter part of the first set and the early stages of the second. It was not a great surprise when he became the ninth player to retire during a match in the final grand slam of the season, which invariably has a high casualty rate. Although Del Potro hit only 10 clean winners in the shortened contest, they were invariably eye-catching and gave his opponent no chance of keeping the ball in play. He served efficiently, was lethal at the net, took all three break opportunities and hit a mere 10 unforced errors.Elsewhere, Kei Nishikori booked his place in the last eight with a straight sets victory over Ivo Karlovic in the last match to be held on Louis Armstrong before it is rebuilt. The Japanese was always in control against the big-serving Croat but needed a tie-break to seal the third set.
