Three games in two sets; that was all that an ailing Juan Martin del Potro was able to muster at the start of his fourth-round match against sixth-seeded Dominic Thiem. In obvious distress, hit hard by a virus, the 24th-seeded Argentine staggered through the start of the match and often appeared to be out on his feet through those first two sets (which took just over an hour to play). It was painful to watch del Potro’s obvious suffering and few - if any - figured he would even be able to finish. Indeed, if he’d had a corner man, the towel would very likely have been airborne.
But the individual nature of tennis tends to reward individual toughness, and after those first two sets, the remainder of the match was a telling testament to the toughness of the 2009 US Open champ. Somehow, some way, del Potro was able to raise his game above his illness, and once he found his feet, he turned his second wind into a gale.
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