David Goffin narrowly avoided joining comeback king Juan Martin del Potro’s list of early-round seeded casualties in 2016. The Belgian 11th seed looked on his way to packing his bags after he trailed a set and 2-0 against the wild card Argentine before he turned his fortunes around in a 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 result on Tuesday at the Shanghai Rolex Masters.
Having lost the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2016 final in three sets to Nick Kyrgios on Sunday, the Belgian took time to work his way into his opening match in China. After he broke to level at 2-2 in the second set, Goffin reeled off eight of the next 12 games to hold a 4-2 lead in the decider before del Potro drew level.
He broke del Potro a fifth time for 6-5 and served it out on his first match point to earn a second-round assignment against Frenchman Benoit Paire.
“He's playing great. He made finals last week. He's so fast on the baseline. I think he's a great player to play. But anyways, I was close to winning. I played a good match,” del Potro said of Goffin. “For me, it has been a great season. Trying to do a good comeback after many injuries. This is just a match. I'm so glad to be playing in this tournament.”
Paire’s countryman Lucas Pouille earlier struck sweet revenge in a straight-sets dismissal of Spaniard Fernando Verdasco. The 13th seed cruised past the former world No. 7 in the Emirates ATP Rankings 6-3, 6-3, avenging a defeat in his first ATP World Tour final at the BRD Nastase Tiriac Trophy in Bucharest in April.
The 22 year old would score that maiden title breakthrough on home soil at Metz (d. Thiem) last month. Continuing his strong finish to the season, he was impressive on serve against Verdasco, claiming 86 per cent of first-serve points and never facing a break point.
The win books a meeting with Verdasco’s compatriot and fellow former Top-10 player, Nicolas Almagro, with a third-round clash against second seed Andy Murray on the cards.
In an all-Spanish over-30s battle, Feliciano Lopez defeated 10th seed David Ferrer in two hours and 30 minutes 7-6(3), 4-6, 7-6(4). The 35-year-old lefty thumped down 20 aces and saved seven of nine break points on his way past the 2011 Shanghai Rolex Masters runner-up.
It was Lopez’s seventh victory over his compatriot in 17 FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings and snapped a seven-match losing streak against the 34 year old, which dated back to this event in 2009. Lopez will next play Jack Sock, who beat Guido Pella 7-6(3), 7-5.
Another Spaniard, Marcel Granollers claimed an opening-round win over Japanese qualifier Yuichi Sugita 7-5, 7-6(2). Granollers sent down six aces and broke four times on his way to landing a second-round assignment against Czech seventh seed Tomas Berdych.