Del Potro Overcomes Slow Start To Beat Jarry At Roland Garros

Juan Martin del Potro, playing only his fourth tournament of the year, overcame a slow start and an aggressive Nicolas Jarry, who struck 47 winners, on Tuesday to open his Roland Garros campaign.

The eighth-seeded Argentinean, who advanced to the semi-finals last year (l. to Nadal) – as he did also in 2009 (l. to Federer), knocked out Jarry 3-6, 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 in two hours and seven minutes for a place in the second round against Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka or Mackenzie McDonald of the United States.

Jarry opened up a 3-0 advantage in the first set, which saw last week’s Banque Eric Sturdza Geneva Open finalist (l. to Zverev) strike 15 winners, including five aces, but Del Potro bounced back to secure early service breaks in the second, third and fourth sets. Del Potro converted five of his 15 break point chances, committing 21 unforced errors in his 20th victory at Roland Garros (20-8 tournament record).

Chilean Jarry is now 3-3 against Top 10 opposition, including No. 8-ranked Dominic Thiem in the 2018 Hamburg European Open quarter-finals; No. 6-ranked Marin Cilic in the 2018 Rolex Shanghai Masters second round and No. 3-ranked Alexander Zverev last month in the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell second round. The World No. 58 drops to 11-12 on the season.

from Tennis - ATP World Tour http://bit.ly/2YLGpqa