McDonald Knocks Out Del Potro, Advances to Delray Beach Semis Along with Isner, Albot and Evans

(February 22, 2019) DELRAY BEACH, FL – Mackenzie McDonald produced the biggest win of his life on Friday night at the Delray Beach Open. The 23-year-old American stopped top seed and world No. 4 Juan Martin del Potro 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(5). The Argentine was visibly having problems with his right knee but completed the match. Del Potro has already announced that he’ll be skipping the Acapulco tournament, where he’s the defending champion to rest up for the BNP Paribas Open in early March, where he is the defending champion.

McDonald will face off against Radu Albot of Moldova in his first-ever ATP tour-level semifinal.

Albot beat No. 4 seed Steve Johnson 1-6, 6-3, 7-6(5).

Earlier, second seed John Isner hit 24 aces to reach the semifinals with a 7-6(2), 6-4 victory over eighth seed Adrian Mannarino of France.

“I thought Adrian was playing well today. Those three break points I saved in the first set felt like set points,” said Isner.
the American will take on Brit Daniel Evans next.

Evans coming into the event as a qualifier, ranked No. 148 in the world, knocked out No. 6 seed Andreas Seppi 6-4, 6-4.

“Playing in the qualifying this week definitely helped me,” Evans said to media. “I’m not there yet, though, and there’s still plenty of work to do.”
Evans served a year suspension from April 2017-18 due to testing positive for cocaine.

This will be Evans’ first semifinal since 2017 in Sydney.