Tennis: Juan Martin del Potro advances to the round of 16 at Wimbledon
Argentine tennis player Juan Martin del Potro defeated French player Benoit Paire 6-4, 7-6 (7/4), and 6-3 in a troubled match and advanced to the round of 16 at Wimbledon.
Del Potro, the fifth seed, will face French player Gilles Simon or Australian player Mathew Ebden in the next round, and has a potentially easy path to the semifinals against Spanish player Rafael Nadal, if the rankings hold true.
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With this victory, Del Potro surpassed David Nalbandian as the Argentine player who has reached the round of 16 the most times, with four occasions.
In addition, he also broke the tie with Nalbandian and now holds the record for most victories by an Argentine player at the All England Club, with 20 wins.
Paire, ranked 47th in the world, had previously defeated Del Potro in their only encounter, on the clay courts of Rome in 2013.
Del Potro took the first set (6-4), which was more closely contested than the score indicates, as both players struggled to hold serve in Wimbledon's fast-paced matches.
Starting from the second set, Paire began to show signs of his volatile character, possibly due to a knee injury and losing the set in a tiebreaker.
If in 2015 he said that Wimbledon was "crap" and kicked a chair during a match, this Saturday he engaged in (very) loud conversations with himself, got angry at himself, the referee, and the world.
The Frenchman even annoyed Del Potro, known for his good character, who gestured to indicate that enough was enough.
The third set was a breeze for the Argentine until he led 3-0, but Paire then woke up to equalize the set at 3-3.
Del Potro took notice and won the next two/three games, not before the match had to be interrupted for 10 minutes due to a spectator fainting from the heat that is hitting London (31 degrees Celsius maximum).
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