Juan Martin del Potro continued his success series one day after his hard-fought victory over Philipp Kohlschreiber (Augsburg) and celebrated his 400th birthday. Celebrated career success. The Argentinian reached the Indian Wells final for the second time with a clear 6-2, 6-3 win over Milos Raonic (Canada/No. 32). The top seeded Swiss superstar Roger Federer, who had a hard time in the semi-final round against Borna Coric from Croatia 5:7, 6:4, 6:4, will be waiting there on Sunday.
Del Potro turned his first match point after only 65 minutes and may continue to hope for his first ATP Masters 1000 title ever. So far, the 2009 US Open Champion had lost his three finals at tournaments of this highest category below the Grand Slam events. Five years ago, for example, he was defeated by Rafael Nadal of Spain in the Indian Wells final.
But against Raonic, who has dropped back to 38th place in the rankings after five injuries in the past 14 months, “Delpo” was the master of the house from the start. After two early breaks the world ranking night was quickly in front with 4:1 and dominated the game not least with his strong serve. When the first service came, the 29-year-old scored in 89 percent of the cases.
Raonic, once the number three in the world, had little to counter this. The former Wimbledon finalist has been waiting for a win against a top ten player since January 2017. In the second set del Potro did not allow a single break point and Raonic took the serve four times.