SYDNEY: Former US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro stepped up his comeback from another wrist surgery by toppling top seed Fabio Fognini at the Sydney International on Wednesday.

The 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory was only the second match the towering Argentine had played in 11 months since surgery to fix an issue with his left wrist and he felt the burn.

The defending champion, competing on a wildcard after his ranking slumped to 338, was given a code violation after taking too long at a change of ends. “This is my second match on tour after one year. I need to breathe more than the other players,” he told reporters.

Del Potro will face qualifier Mikhail Kukushkin in the quarter-finals after the Kazakh overcame sixth seed Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay 7-5, 7-5.

Second seed David Goffin also followed Fognini out of the tournament, after losing to Italian Simone Bolelli 6-3, 6-3, while Bernard Tomic of Australia defeated third-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 6-3, 6-4.

Bolelli next faces Serbian qualifier Viktor Troicki who eliminated Spaniard Pablo Andujar 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 and Tomic will play Gilles Muller in the quarters after Muller defeated French seventh seed Jeremy Chardy 2-6, 7-6 (7-1), 6-4. Fourth seed Julien Benneteau of France beat Vasek Pospisil of Canada 7-6 (7-3), 6-3.

The ATP 250 event is one of the final tournaments before the Australian Open, the first grand slam of the year, gets underway on Monday.

In the women’s tournament, Tsvetana Pironkova continued her winning run in Sydney to 14 matches after she reached the semi-finals with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Barbora Zahlavova Strycova.

The Bulgarian world number 67 was a shock winner in Sydney last year after coming through three qualifying rounds to make the main draw.

She will now face Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova who survived a two-hour epic duel with Australian wildcard Jarmila Gajdosova 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

World N 22 Karolina Pliskova also won through to the semi-finals after seeing off Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro, 4-6, 6-4, 6-0.

The 22-year-old Czech now faces Angelique Kerber for a place in Saturday’s final after the German recovered to overcome Spaniard Garbine Muguruza 0-6, 6-1, 6-4.

A high rate of attrition among seeded players has continued at the ATP Tour’s Auckland Open.

Fifth seed Tommy Robredo of Spain on Wednesday became the fourth seeded player to withdraw from the tournament without hitting a ball.

World No 17 Robredo, who had a first round bye, pulled out of his second round match against New Zealand’s Michael Vensu with a hip injury, saying there was a “little bit” of doubt about his fitness for the Australian Open.

Robredo’s withdrawal follows those of top seed David Ferrer and defending champion John Isner, both citing tiredness, and Frenchman Gael Monfils, for personal reasons.

On court, second seed Ernests Gulbis of Latvia lost 2-6, 6-3, 6-1 to qualifier Jiri Veseley of the Czech Republic while third seed Robert Bautista Agut of Spain retired while trailing France’s Adrian Mannarino 6-4, 2-1 in his second round match with an unspecified injury.

Last year’s finalist Lu Yen-Hsun of Taiwan departed after a meek 6-2, 6-4 loss to Albert Ramos of Spain but fourth-seeded South African Kevin Anderson bucked the trend against seeds when he beat Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff 7-6 (8-6), 6-1.

Eighth seed Steve Johnson of the United States also reached the quarter-finals, beating Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 6-1.

At the Kooyong Classic in Melbourne, defending champion Kei Nishikori of Japan struggled in the first round before subduing Australian youngster Jordan Thompson 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4).

Fernando Verdasco of Spain beat Gilles Simon of France 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) and Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine defeated Filip Krajinovic of Serbia 6-4, 6-3.

Elsewhere, no play was possible at the Hobart Invitational, where heavy rain washed out both day and night sessions at the women’s event.

Published in Dawn, January 15th, 2015

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