There was a lot at stake for Roger Federer and Juan Martin del Potro when they met in the second round of the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati on Tuesday night. A Federer loss and the defending champion not only would have earned next to nothing in the rankings, he would have had just one match victory—over Canadian wild card Vasek Pospisil last week in Montreal—heading into the U.S. Open. For del Potro, still struggling to find the pre-wrist-surgery form that earned him the title at Flushing Meadows in 2009, he needed a confidence-boosting win after losing to Ernests Gulbis and Marin Cilic at his last two tournaments.
Early on, the match had the tense feel of a grand occasion. In the second game, the Argentine held serve, winning two points with a huge backhand winner and a mammoth forehand blast that were vintage shots, circa 2009. There was the thought that del Potro might be able to simply overpower Federer, something he had done in their two previous meetings—in the 2009 U.S. Open final and at ATP World Tour finale in London that same year.
The tone for the match was set in the fourth game, when del Potro held four game points and made lame unforced errors on three of them. Federer, in an excellent omen for him, capitalized on his first break point when del Potro badly missed a backhand into the net. That gave the Swiss a shot of assurance and, serving extremely well, he ran out the opening set in 36 minutes.
The second set had much more of the competitive balance that everyone expected—especially after Federer failed to convert five break points in the very first game. But there was still a sense that he was the form player. Del Potro's one chance was a break point with Federer serving at 2-3, but a good body serve surprised the Argentine and he missed his return.
Playing with fire, del Potro saved a break point at 4-4 with a risky, big second serve, but two games later he wasn’t so fortunate. After a poor forehand miss landed halfway up the net to make it 30-40, Federer jumped at the ensuing chance, belting a beautiful cross-court forehand that dipped deep into the corner with del Potro watching helplessly. Federer served out the 6-3, 7-5 match to 30 in the following game, which finished with a del Potro forehand unforced error.
It was a clean performance by Federer—35 winners and 25 unforced errors, 11 of 13 points won at the net and sparkling 75 percent first-serve percentage—and a potentially disastrous opening-round was well negotiated. It’s difficult to say whether he was better or worse than in Montreal, when he lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, as del Potro was nowhere near the level the Frenchman reached last week.
The win earns Federer a third-round rendezvous with James Blake, who is again playing well enough not to be a pushover.
—Tom Tebbutt