Juan Martin del Potro splayed his arms wide and thrust his head back, soaking in the roar of the packed Grandstand crowd and looking to the heavens. After the Argentine had almost retired during Monday’s U.S. Open match, struggling to breathe or move, he pulled off one of the biggest wins of his life.
Staving off illness in the second set and a pair of match points in the fourth, No. 24 del Potro pulled off a 1-6, 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-1), 6-4 fourth-round rally against Dominic Thiem. It was one of his most dramatic victories, and Wednesday’s quarterfinal vs. No. 3 Roger Federer will be a rematch of his greatest — his only — Grand Slam win.
“He was gone for so long that it’s just really nice to see him back playing these kind of matches,’’ said Federer, who routed Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4, 6-2, 7-5, in Arthur Ashe Stadium. “That’s what he came back for, to get crowd support the way he got it. We could even hear it on center court. That’s the first time I experienced that. Clearly Grandstand wasn’t where it used to be, but they had epic crowds.
“He’s a good guy. I know him well. But when he was hurt, clearly I didn’t see him for a long time. I was sorry for him, because he had a legitimate good chance to become world No. 1 at that time. … So I’m really happy for him. It’s a good match to look forward to. Reminds me clearly of the 2009 finals that we had, which was an epic, too. I hope we can produce another good one.”
Federer has been on a highly anticipated collision course with No. 1 Rafael Nadal in the semis. But the man standing in his way is del Potro, who broke Federer’s run of five straight U.S. Open titles in 2009. Federer has only made one final here since.
“[It’s] going to be interesting match [to] play. It will be after eight years again in the central court of this tournament. I know how to play if I want to win, but I will see how, physically, I feel after this battle,’’ del Potro said. “But always [it] is a pleasure to play the greatest guy in the history.”
For del Potro, Monday was a microcosm of his career. Multiple wrist surgeries put his career in danger, but he always fought his way through. And despite an illness and fever, he persevered against Thiem. With the Ashe match over early, the crowd packed the Grandstand and urged him on with “Ole! Ole!” chants.
“I was thinking to retire in the middle of the second set because I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t move well. Dominic was dominating so easy,’’ del Potro said. “But when we start the third set, I broke his serve very quick and won the set in 20 minutes. Then the history changed a lot. I’m starting to see the crowd. I took all the energy from the fans. … I was ready to win the match in that moment.”
Federer had no such drama, running his record to 12-0 against Kohlschreiber and not facing a single break point. The closest thing to excitement was Federer trotting off the court before the third set for a three-minute medical treatment.
“[I] just needed a bit of a rub on my back, my bottom, and I didn’t want to do it on court,’’ Federer laughed on a TV interview.