Shaking a lot of Argentine cobwebs

One thing that we cannot accuse Juan Martin Del Potro of is peaking too early. I don't know what game was being put on display in the first set but it was not the A game - B, C or D for that matter. Apart from the fact that successful first serves were as rare as an Australian winning the home Grand Slam title, court position was faulty and the net attracted any balls that didn't sail long, several of the latter missing by the width of the Yarra. To his credit, Mannarino graciously accepted the charity and even scored with some worthy winners off his own racquet. The drop shot was used to great effect, each time catching the South American off balance. The set went to France 6-2, and Del Potro needed to dial into this match rather soon, because right now his number was disconnected.

When the Argentine serve is on, it makes one feel safe that a victory is around the next corner, and to prove that point, Del Potro elected to rely on his first delivery into court for the greater part of set number two. The improvement in all parts of his game was in sync with the serve and the forehand began to be the weapon it usually is. Mannarino meantime had a problem - the quantity of unforced errors caught and overtook the number of winners as quick as Vettel in a Red Bull or a rat on Red Bull up that famous drain pipe. This would be the best standard of tennis we would see for the match, and Del Potro had levelled things by taking the set 6-1.

The third set saw a return to inexplicable errors from both players but it became more difficult to understand the ones contributed from Argentina. Somehow fumbling his way to 4-3 with a break, then fumbling still more to lose the next two games, one had the feeling that Del Potro had lost control of the match - points were being won or lost on the French racquet. Enough of those points were lost for the set to be gifted to the 11th seed and he took a statistically secure two sets to one advantage as the players travelled into the next phase of the clash.

In between some horrible shots that even a C grade club player wouldn't think of playing, Del Potro played sufficient winning tennis to eke out another break of serve in the fourth set. The forehand was the saviour whenever things became tight, and the tightness was most evident on the French side of the net. For all that, Del Potro could not accelerate away, and needed to serve it out at 5-4, a duty he performed purposefully if not spectacularly.

In fact the lack lustre nature of the four set victory by Juan Martin Del Potro diminishes the credit that Mannarino deserves. For the several times Del Potro threatened to overwhelm the less equipped Frenchman, he refused to buckle as traditional first round losers might, and gave the Argentine player more time on court than he would have anticipated.

Juan survives 2-6 6-1 7-5 6-4