Del Potro avoids Australian Open warmup disappointment

As a number of warmup events played out around Australia on Wednesday, Juan Martin del Potro advanced to the quarter-finals at Sydney International despite losing the first set 1-6 to Nicolas Mahut.

Juan Martin del Potro advanced to the quarter-finals at Sydney International on Wednesday. Mark Nolan / Getty Images

Reuters

World No 5 Juan Martin del Potro, the man tipped to challenge for grand slam titles this season, began his year with a scrappy win over Frenchman Nicolas Mahut to advance to the quarter-finals of the Sydney International on Wednesday.

The Sydney warm-up to the Australian Open has proved a graveyard for the seeds this week but the 25-year-old former US Open champion avoided an early flight to Melbourne by coming back to win 1-6 6-3 6-4.

Rated a dark horse to win the title at Melbourne Park and add to his sole grand slam triumph at Flushing Meadows in 2009, the top seeded Argentine will next take on Czech veteran Radek Stepanek for a place in the last four.

Other seeds struggled, with No 3 Andreas Seppi from Italy bundled out by Australia’s Marinko Matesovic 6-3 6-4 and sixth seed Julien Benneteau of France dumped in straight sets by Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky.

Defending champion Bernard Tomic advanced with a hard-fought 6-3 4-6 6-4 win over Slovenian qualifier Blaz Kavcic, continuing his habit of raising his game for home fans at the start of the year.

The rangy 21 year old, ranked 52nd in the world, has disappointed some in Australia for failing to live up to sky-high expectations and has been drawn into controversy by his coach and father John Tomic.

Tomic senior has been barred from the Australian Open after a court in Spain convicted him of assaulting his son’s former hitting partner last year.

“The majority of the crowd like me in Australia,” the 21-year-old Tomic told reporters after setting up a quarter-final with Ukraine’s Alexandr Dolgopolov.

“At the end of the day, if you win, it’s going to put a zip to everyone.”

The women’s draw, which has already seen top seed Agnieszka Radwanska and former world No 1 Caroline Wozniacki sent packing, lost third seed Sara Errani, last year’s surprise French Open semi-finalist, who was upset 7-6 (7-2) 6-3 by Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova in the quarter-finals.

The Italian world No 7 took a medical time-out in the second set to have treatment on her lower back, raising concerns over her fitness ahead of the year’s first grand slam.

Former Wimbledon semi-finalist Pironkova will play second seed and former Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, who wore down Lucie Safarova 7-6 6-2, for a place in the final.

The invitational Kooyong Classic kicked off in Melbourne’s leafy eastern suburbs on Wednesday, with a smattering of men’s top-10 players warming up at the eight-man exhibition, which offers the same surface used at Melbourne Park.

World No 7 Tomas Berdych roared back from a 5-2 deficit in the first set to overhaul Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 7-5 6-2 in his first hit-out of 2014 in brilliant sunshine.

Japanese No 1 Kei Nishikori also enjoyed an opening win over Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov 7-6 (7-5) 6-4.

World No 9 Richard Gasquet of France nearly suffered an embarrassing defeat by teenager Jordan Thompson, and had to save two match points before fending off the 321st-ranked Australian 7-5 3-6 7-6 (7-4).

Sam Stosur’s stuttering revival after a dismal Hopman Cup continued with a second straight win at the Hobart International in front of home fans.

The former US Open champion had to save two match points against 54th-ranked Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic as she laboured through a 6-4 2-6 7-6 (9-7) match blighted by an astonishing 22 double-faults from both players.