SYDNEY: Former US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro’s comeback from a lengthy injury layoff was cut short by Kazakhstan qualifier Mikhail Kukushkin in the quarter-finals of the Sydney international on Thursday.
The towering Argentine has been out for 10 months after undergoing surgery to fix a left wrist issue and went down 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-3) to Kukushkin, ranked 66th in the world.
Defending champion Del Potro, who won the US Open in 2009, has seen his ranking plummet to 338 and had hoped to get some match practice in Sydney before the Australian Open begins in Melbourne on Monday.
There was not much to choose between the two players, who went unbroken throughout the match, barring a few points in the tiebreakers.
“It was a tough match,” said Del Potro. “I think he deserved to win because he played better than me in the tie-break.
“I served well, but my wrist hurts a little bit more than yesterday, and I couldn’t hit harder than my last match. I think anyway it’s a great week for me. I played three matches in a row and I played against good players, which means a good comeback for me.”
Kukushkin will next play Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer, who beat Julien Benneteau of France 6-3, 7-6 (7-4).
Luxembourg’s big-serving Gilles Muller will play Serbia’s Viktor Troicki in the other semi-final.
Muller needed five match points in an epic 28-point tiebreaker before prevailing over Australia’s Bernard Tomic, 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (15-13) while
Troicki had a hard-fought 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 win over Italy’s Simone Bolelli in a match that lasted over two hours.
Wimbledon champion and second-seeded Petra Kvitova beat Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria 7-5, 6-1 to advance to an all-Czech women’s singles final. Kvitova will play Karolina Pliskova, who beat Germany’s Angelique Kerber 6-3, 6-2.
Australian Casey Dellacqua’s progress before her home open was also halted after the top seed bowed out of the Hobart International with a second-round loss to Italian Karin Knapp. The world number 29, however, did not seem too worried by her 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 defeat.
“I feel ready for the Australian Open and I feel that I’m the best prepared that I can be and that I have done everything that I possibly can,” Dellacqua, Australia’s best hope at the year’s first Grand Slam behind Samantha Stosur, told reporters.
“Now I just turn my focus onto the Australian Open and doing what I can in the next couple of days to prepare best for that.”
Britain’s Heather Watson advanced to the semi-finals of the rain-affected event with a 7-6 (7-0), 6-2 win over ninth-seeded Roberta Vinci of Italy while American Alison Riske also won her quarter-final, beating Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-0.
Gilles Simon feels his fitness is finally returning after the Frenchman prepared for the Australian Open with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Serbian youngster Filip Krajinovic at the Kooyong Classic.
Simon’s success at the eight-man special event, a tune-up for the first major of the season, was reassuring for Frenchman who has been dealing with knee and back niggles over the past weeks.
“It’s always disappointing to be injured,” said Simon. “I always come early to Australia because I know I’m going to need days to adjust. It doesn’t matter how I play, I just need to get the matches, even if I cannot move well.”
In the other relegation-round game, promising Australian Jordan Thompson beat Spanish world number 14 Feliciano Lopez 7-6 (9-7), 6-3.
At the Auckland Open in New Zealand, fourth-seeded Kevin Anderson of South Africa became the only seeded player to reach the semi-finals when he beat American Steve Johnson 6-4, 7-6 (10-8).
Anderson will play Jiri Vesely after the Czech qualifier beat American Donald Young 6-2, 6-3 to reach an ATP Tour semi-final for the first time.
Lucky loser Lucas Pouille of France beat Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain 6-3, 6-2 and Adrian Mannarino of France beat another lucky loser, Alejandro Falla of Colombia, 6-3, 6-1 to set up the other semi-final.
Published in Dawn, January 16th, 2015
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