Del Potro Advances to Legg Mason Final in a Mess of a Match

WASHINGTON--With the type of tennis displayed by the two top ranked South Americans in the ATP today, it's not only Argentina that should be cried for--it's Chile as well.

Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro defeated Chilean Fernando Gonzalez 7-6(2), 6-3 in the semifinal of the ATP 500 level Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington, DC.  The match started with some excellent shot-making on both sides, but dissolved into a lackadaisical, sloppy display in the second.

Almost the entire first set was made up of some real nice tennis, with the two players riding strong serves and massive forehands to some brilliant shot making.  The preference for the forehand both players displayed was almost ridiculous at points, with Gonzalez running around his backhand on every possible opportunity.  Gonzalez even managed to run around his backhand to return an out wide serve with his forehand, hitting an inside-out winner while standing outside the doubles alley.

On serve at 5-5 in the first, the quality of play really picked up.  Each of the two needed six deuces to hold serve for the tiebreak, with del Potro saving three Gonzalez set points to level the set at 6-6.

Perhaps demoralized by the blown set points, Gonzalez's forehand disappeared in the tiebreak, and took Gonzalez's fighting spirit with it.  Gonzalez dropped three of the five points on his serve in the breaker, the last two with some very careless forehand errors to give del Potro the set, 7-6(2).

The same way Serena Williams' forehand went on vacation "in Hawaii"during Wimbledon, Gonzalez's seemed to desert him for Vina del Mar.  The rest of his game went south as well, and he seemed almost amused by how horribly he was playing, at once falling to the ground and lying there prone for almost a minute, smiling.  He seemed to want to get off the court as soon as possible, dropping the first five games of the second set.  del Potro wasn't doing much special to win the games, just sort of winning them by default.

"I didn't play good tennis," Gonzalez agreed after the match, blaming the heat and humidity for the low quality of tennis on both sides, a diagnosis with which del Potro agreed.

Gonzalez started to play more loosely by the end, and was able to make shots he had missed before to real off five straight games, making proceedings slightly more interesting.  "I was completely loose. I had nothing else to lose," he admitted.

The late surge awoke del Potro, however, and the big Argentine was able to close out the set 6-3 to advance to his second straight final in Washington.  He made a sign of the cross as he walked to the net after match point, a wise decision considering how many unholy forces were at work in this match.

del Potro won four straight tournaments last summer (Stuttgart, Kitzbuhel, Los Angeles, and Washington), but only attempted to defend Washington, letting the other points and titles fall without a fight.  After the match I asked del Potro how it felt to defend a title for the first time, and to see his name in the row of previous champions that circle the stadium, a question that seemed to hit a heartstring for the normally non-emotive del Potro.

"Now I have the chance to defend here in Washington, tomorrow, in the final.  To see my name on the stadium, it's unbelievable.  It's like a dream.  When I was younger, I played here three years ago and I saw the names of the very good players.  And now I am there.  It's a very good feeling for me."

Aww.