13. July 2008
Del Potro Captures First ATP Title
Argentine teenager Juan Martin del Potro (pictured) captured his first ATP title at the MercedesCup in Stuttgart on Sunday, defeating second-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet 7-5, 6-4.
The 19-year-old becomes the sixth first time winner of an ATP title this year. He matches the achievement of Kei Nishikori (Delray Beach), Sergiy Stakhovsky (Zagreb), Sam Querrey (Las Vegas), Marcel Granollers (Houston) and Victor Hanescu (Gstaad).
After capturing the title, del Potro was presented with a brand new white Mercedes-Benz SLK 350.
He is the second Argentine to win an ATP singles title this season, joining David Nalbandian, who was victorious in Buenos Aires, and the third Argentine champion in the past six years at Stuttgart.
World No. 65 del Potro was contesting his first ATP singles final. On his way to the title match he defeated Evgeny Korolev, No. 5 seed Simone Bolelli, No. 4 seed Philipp Kohlschreiber and No. 8 seed Eduardo Schwank. Having fallen third round on his debut in 2006, his tournament record now stands at 7-1.
The Tandil resident failed to win back-to-back matches on the ATP circuit until April, although had only contested three events, when he reached the quarterfinals at Munich (l. to El Aynaoui). Following a first round exit at Masters Series Rome and a second round dismissal at Roland Garros, the right-hander then made the semifinals at ‘s-Hertogenbosch (l. to Ferrer). Prior to arriving at Stuttgart, he fell first round at Wimbledon (l. to Wawrinka).
Del Potro made a fast start to the match, breaking Gasquet in the first game to lead 1-0. Gasquet broke back to level for 2-2, but del Potro was able to regain the initiative and broke at 5-4 before serving out the set.
The Argentine broke early again in the second set, but was once again pegged back at 3-3. With Gasquet leading at 4-3 there was a short rain delay and when play resumed, del Potro earned his fourth break of serve in the 11th game before serving out the match to love after 1 hr., 35 min and avenging his loss to Gasquet at the Pacific Life Open last year.
The 22-year-old Gasquet was through to his first ATP singles final of the season having only reached one ATP quarterfinal in the lead-up to Stuttgart, falling to David Nalbandian at Queen’s Club. He had only won back-to-back matches on four occasions this season.
Placed at No. 15 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings, the Beziers native is currently eight spots down from his career-high of No. 7 (July 9, 2007). He was bidding for his first title since 2007 Mumbai (d. O. Rochus). He now slips to a 5-6 record (1-3 on clay) in ATP singles finals.
