Djokovic Storms Home To Deny Del Potro; Records Milestone Win

Serbian claims 13th victory from 16 matches against the Argentine. Five-time champion Novak Djokovic brought his best tennis in a 7-5, 4-6, 6-1 victory over Juan Martin del Potro on Tuesday night in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open. It’s a match-up that typically brings out the best in both players, and they did not disappoint on a packed Stadium 1, with Djokovic upping his game when it mattered to surge to the finish line in two hours and 18 minutes.
Victory sees Djokovic tie Pete Sampras for 10th in the Open Era with 762 victories overall and sees him join Roger Federer (331) and Rafael Nadal (318) as the third player to earn 300 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 victories.

The ‘group of death’ section does not get any easier for Djokovic, who advances to a fourth-round meeting with Nick Kyrgios. The 21-year-old Australian, who beat Alexander Zverev earlier in the day, defeated Djokovic in their first tour meeting last week in the Acapulco quarterfinals.

Playing del Potro for the second time in two weeks, after beating the Argentine in three tight sets in the Acapulco second round, Djokovic rallied from losing his serve in the first game to break del Potro twice and seal the opener. The Tandil native struck back in the second set, racing into a 4-1 double-break lead, which proved enough to level the contest.
But Djokovic stepped up in the decider, harnessing del Potro’s power and firing himself up as he broke in the fourth and sixth games to clinch victory. The Serbian improved to a 13-3 mark over del Potro in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series.

The 29-year-old Djokovic has compiled a 49-6 mark at this ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament and has lifted the trophy the past three years. Indeed, del Potro was the player responsible for Djokovic’s last defeat in the desert, beating the Serbian in the 2013 semi-finals.