Juan Martin del Potro Saves Three Match Points to Beat Roger Federer for BNP Paribas Open Crown, His First Masters Title

Juan Martin del Potro Saves Three Match Points to Beat Roger Federer for BNP Paribas Open Crown, His First Masters Title

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(March 18, 2018) No. 6 seed Juan Martin del Potro saved three match points to defeat No. 1 Roger Federer 6-4, 6-7(8), 7-6(2) in two-hours and 42-minutes to win the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. This is the Argentine’s first Masters Series 1000 tournament trophy. It’s his 401 match-win on the ATP World Tour, his 22^nd tournament title. The win also snaps Federer’s 17-match win streak.

“I cannot believe I won this tournament, beating Roger in a great final and level of tennis,” del Potro said. “We played great tennis today.

“I’m No. 6 in the world, I think? Which is so good to me. And I’m excited to keep working. I’m not expecting — I not expect to go up in the ranking. I don’t care about the numbers. I just want to keep winning title like this if I can.

“But the first thing is try to be healthy during the whole year and play where I like to play. Now I have to do a smart schedule on clay to feel 100% for the rest of the season.”

Del Potro after winning the 2009 US Open over Federer, has had multiple wrist surgeries and didn’t know if he would ever play tennis again.

“No, I couldn’t imagine this moment. I mean, everybody knows I was really close to quit tennis before my third surgery on my left wrist.

“And after that, I made a big effort to come back and play tennis with the slice. Then with my backhand, it wasn’t good to play at this level.

“But then during the Olympics game, after the Djokovic match, my tennis life change again. I took a good way to feel happy again with tennis life. I won the Davis Cup and I say, Okay, I don’t have any more pressure to play tennis because I won everything what I wanted except Masters 1000 (smiling), but today I did.

“So I just — I have everything what I want, and I want to keep improving my game to see what can I do?”

“It was a lot of chances on either end,” Federer said. “He should have maybe closed it first in the second set, I believe. Even early in the second set, I think he had break point chances, but I was able to find my game and get out of that game.

“Yeah, then it was close. I had maybe a bit more chances early on in the second set to maybe get even a break earlier, but I finally got it and served for the match, couple match points, two, three, not even really sure. It doesn’t matter whether it was 20 or 1.

“But, you know, look, it’s disappointing, but I thought it was a good match. Yeah, Juan Martin was a bit better at the end. It was maybe a point here or there, maybe a shot, maybe a forehand, maybe a chip.

“So that’s how it goes. It’s unfortunate, but I’m happy for him. Well done to him.”

“I’m really enjoying playing tennis again,” the new No. 6 in the world added. “That’s the only thing what I can say.

“I mean, I had very bad moments few years ago, and I don’t want to think about that anymore. I just enjoying this life, playing around the world. Many fans give me too much love on court, off court, as well. This is what I miss when I was injured, you know.

“And now I’m excited to see what next, you know. I’m still surprising myself, and I want to keep surprising the tennis tour, you know.”

Federer who was irritable on and off throughout the match, saved a match point in the second set tiebreaker, served for the match at 5-4 in the third set, fell short. In fact both men argued with the chair umpire Fergus Murphy beginning in the second set, especially during the tiebreaker.

“I feel frustrated, you know, that I let an opportunity like this go by,” Federer said. “Serving 40-15, any game I probably win — I don’t know what the stat is — 90-something percent.

“So it should sting, like you said, for a bit. The question is how long? It won’t be long, but it’s disappointing talking about a great match like this, losing, even though I was right there, you know.

“I don’t know. Having Juan Martin come in and having to hit something past me that’s very uncomfortable for him, and you pick the wrong side and you’re like, Why am I picking the wrong side? Is it him or me? What is it? You just don’t know. Next thing you’re shaking hands and congratulating your opponent. It’s like, Okay, too good. You move on.

“And obviously there is not too much time to dwell over it. Like I said, I’m happy for Juan Martin. It’s a tough one. And I still had a good week here. I still see the positives at the end of the day.

“It was a great match, honestly. Good fun. Good intensity. We enjoy that. And also it was tough and fair on the court. It was Juan Martin and myself. At the end you saw we are appreciative of the finals that we played against each other, which I think is really important for both of us.”