Del Potro comeback gathers pace
Juan Martin del Potro continued his encouraging comeback by knocking out top seed Fabio Fognini in the second round of the Apia International in Sydney.
The Argentinian played his first match since wrist surgery last March on Tuesday, exceeding his own low expectations with victory over Sergiy Stakhovsky.
And there was better to come for Del Potro, who is the defending champion, as he recovered from a set down to see off Fognini 4-6 6-2 6-2 and reach the quarter-finals.
“I thought I played better. I feel better on the court, especially in the end of the match,” said Del Potro.
“I serve well, I hit good forehands, and my backhands improved from yesterday to this match a little bit.
“I need to keep playing with these guys, hitting the ball as fast I can and keep trying.
“My wrist is the same. It’s not getting worse, so I have confidence with that. Of course I’m very happy to beat my first top 20 player of the year.”
The former US Open champion did need treatment on the wrist durng the match but said it was not due to pain.
“I’m feeling okay,” he insisted. “It was nothing dangerous, because I sweat too much and the tape goes out, but nothing special.
“It’s like spray to keep the tape on.”
Del Potro will next meet qualifier Mikhail Kukushkin, who defeated sixth seed Pablo Cuevas 7-5 7-5.
Second seed David Goffin was upset 6-3 6-3 by Simone Bolelli, while home hope Bernard Tomic, the champion in 2013 and runner-up last year, is through to the last eight again after a 6-3 6-4 win over Philipp Kohlschreiber.
Fourth seed Julien Bennteau and fifth seed Leonardo Mayer both came through, with the latter surviving a deciding tie-break against Jerzy Janowicz, and will play each other.
Seventh seed Jeremy Chardy was knocked out by Gilles Muller, who now plays Tomic, while qualifier Viktor Troicki defeated Pablo Andujar.
In the women’s event, Angelique Kerber was in late-night action again as she battled into the semi-finals.
Having completed her win over Daria Gavrilova at 3.10am on Wednesday morning, fifth seed Kerber was back on court later in the day against Garbine Muguruza.
The German failed to win a game in the opening set, but showed impressive mental fortitude to fight back and triumph 0-6 6-1 6-4, finishing at 11.40pm.
Kerber next meets Czech Karolina Pliskova, who reached her first WTA Premier semi-final by serving a whole game of aces to beat Carla Suarez Navarro 4-6 6-4 6-0.
Second seed Petra Kvitova also came back from a set down in her win over Australian Jarmila Gajdosova and will play defending champion Tsvetana Pironkova in the last four after the Bulgarian saw off Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-4 6-1.
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