Del Potro continues to defy injury

DUBAI: Juan Martin Del Potro, the former US Open champion whose career has been damaged by the wrist injury which sidelined him in 2010, on Thursday revealed some of the obstacles to returning to his former prominence after reaching the semi-finals of the Dubai Open.

Del Potro, who has won no further Grand Slams and just seven titles since the career-threatening setback, kept alive his chances of an eighth by beating Daniel Brands, a surprising German qualifier, by 6-4, 6-2.

It was a big-serving battle of the two tallest men in the tournament, and for a while, until 4-4 in the first set it seemed that Brands might be capable of creating further upsets in the Gulf.

He beat two leading Frenchmen, Gael Monfils and Jeremy Chardy, while reaching the semi-finals in Doha last month.

However once Del Potro broke serve to snatch the first set, the match changed character completely with the Argentine getting right on top.

Del Potro then cast doubts on how certain that was. "But I need to be ready for tomorrow," he added. " And I will have the rest of the day to recover in my wrist and do the best what I can."

He concluded: "I know against (Novak) Djokovic tomorrow, or (Andreas) Seppi, I need to hit my backhand a hundred percent and then see if I have a little chance to win." (AFP)