Juan Martin del Potro has entered the final of the China Open in Beijing without a fight. The Argentinian US Open finalist benefited from the injury-related waiver of Italian Fabio Fognini, who was unable to compete in the semifinals due to an ankle injury.
The top seeded Del Potro will challenge either the British Kyle Edmund (No. 5) or the Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili in his sixth final of the current season on Sunday.
Del Potro had actually wanted to take revenge in the semi-final of Beijing against Fognini (No. 4) on a sportive way for the defeat suffered at the beginning of August in the final of Los Cabos (4:6, 2:6).
In 2018, world number four del Potro (30), who like Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic has already qualified for the ATP final in London in November, has already won the events in Indian Wells and Acapulco.
At the edge of the Beijing tournament, the “Tower of Tandil” met the former Chinese NBA star Yao Ming, who at 2.29 metres is 31 centimetres taller than “Delpo”. Shanghai-born Yao Ming (38) once played as a center for the Houston Rockets.