Juan Martin del Potro extended his winning streak to 12 matches with a 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 win over Robin Haase to kick off his quest to complete the ‘Sunshine Double’ at the Miami Open on Friday night.
But things won’t get any easier for the the World No. 6 Argentine, who last week won his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title in Indian Wells. Del Potro will face former US Open finalist Kei Nishikori in the third round after the Japanese beat Australian John Millman 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-3.
Del Potro said that he would need a much better effort to beat Nishikori. “It was a terrible match for me even though Robin played well,” he said. “It was a very difficult first match of the tournament for me. I'm still alive and that's important. But I need to improve my tennis, my physicality and my mind if I want to go further. My body started to feel tired but I will have some time now to recover.
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"It could be a very difficult match for me. Kei has a very good two-handed backhand, good returns. And he's playing well. He feels 100 per cent, free of pain in his wrist. And he's a dangerous guy on Tour. I mean, if he has a good day, he can beat all of the other players. I must play even better than tonight."
Playing his first match in almost a month since his first-round loss in Acapulco to Denis Shapovalov, Nishikori said that the difficult nature of today's win was a boost. "I'm happy to win; it wasn't an easy match," he said. "I didn't play the past two weeks, so I had to get used to playing points again, but in the third set I thought I played well. I am feeling very good and playing with intensity for three hours today is good for my confidence."
Did You Know?
Del Potro improved to 5-0 lifetime against Haase with Friday night's win in Miami.
