Milos Raonic – Canada Fan Blog an (unofficial) blog about tennis and Canadian player Milos Raonic

Del Potro def. Tipsarević – Delray Beach ITC Finals

This afternoon in Delray Beach, FL, Juan Martin del Potro defeated Janko Tipsarević 6-4, 6-4 in slightly under 2 hours at the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships.

Del Potro had been seeking his first title since going out with a wrist injury after the 2009 season and Tipsarević was looking for his first ever ATP World Tour title.  Before the match, both del Potro and his coach had mentioned that he was tired after playing 3 weeks of tennis leading up to this final and that did show during the match, with del Potro frequently attempting to end points quickly.  In their one previous match Tipsarević was only able to win 5 games against del Potro in defeat (link).

In the first set Tipsarević came out well, winning the first game (on his serve) at love.  In the 4th game he was upset with the referee over a call that would have given him the break but he eventually did break del Potro anyway and consolidated with a win in the following game to make it 4-1 in his favour.  Up to that point, del Potro's body language had not been positive and he seemed to be showing the fatigue he'd mentioned before the match.  Del Potro really stepped up after this though, at about half-way through the set, and outplayed Tipsarević to win the next 5 games - taking the set at 6-4.

The first 4 games were holds in the second set, with the only break in the set on Tipsarević's serve by del Potro in the 5th game.  The rest of the games were holds and were mostly unremarkable until del Potro held his serve in the 10th game to win the second set 6-4.  With this Juan Martin del Potro won his first title since making a comeback after missing the 2010 season due to injury.

After this week's tournaments in Dubai, Aculpoco, and Delray Beach, the Davis Cup first round is on deck next week followed by two hard-court ATP Masters (1000 point) tournaments in Indian Wells, California and Miami. Florida in March.  Milos Raonic's name is not in the draws for those tournaments right now (link1, link2) but whether he gets a wildcard or has to qualify, he will surely make an impact.

--  WACB