Another day, another win for Juan Martin del Potro.
The World No. 6 continued his run of excellent form on Tuesday at the Miami Open presented by Itau, as he overcame a 1-4 deficit to defeat No. 22 seed Filip Krajinovic 6-4, 6-2 for his 14th consecutive victory as he pursues back-to-back-to-back titles.
"I will try to keep going and see how far I can go," Del Potro said.
The Indian Wells and Acapulco champion extends his career-best start to 20-3, as he moves to within three matches of the 'Sunshine Double' — winning the first two ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events of the season in the same year. Nobody on the ATP World Tour has won more matches than the right-hander's 20, and this is the second-longest tour-level winning streak of Del Potro's career, only trailing a 23-match stretch in 2008.
If Del Potro goes on to claim the Miami crown, it would be the first time he wins three consecutive titles in his career. Prior to the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC, the 29-year-old had not won an ATP World Tour 500-level event since 2013 Basel. Yet, the Argentine triumphed at 500-level Acapulco before lifting his maiden Masters 1000 trophy in the Coachella Valley.
He sets a rematch of the Indian Wells semi-finals against No. 20 seed Milos Raonic, who continued his return to full fitness and form when he maintained his perfect record over Jeremy Chardy for a place in the Miami Open presented by Itau quarter-finals.
"He's showing good signs for his body, his game and he's improving every day," Del Potro said. "I also think he has a big potential to reach the final here, so it's going to be a difficult challenge to me."
The Canadian knocked out Grigor Dimitrov’s conqueror 6-3, 6-4 in 86 minutes. Having dropped to No. 40 in ATP Rankings on 26 February — his lowest position since No. 59 on 14 February 2011— Raonic has bounced back and is into his second consecutive quarter-final, which are his first two of the season.
"It was a difficult day, difficult conditions to play in. I'm happy with the way I managed it," Raonic said. "It's the same conditions for both guys so you've just got to go out there trying to do your thing and be aware of it, but also it gives you a little bit of calm knowing that both guys are going through it."
Raonic won 85 per cent of his first-service points (28/33) against Chardy to reach the Miami last eight for a third time (also 2014, 2016). He broke serve in the third and ninth games of the first set, then raised his game to break in the final game.
The 27-year-old Raonic struck 12 aces past Chardy to improve to 6-0 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series. He has hit 38 aces in three matches at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament and, according to ATP Scores & Stats, Raonic is No. 15 in the all-time aces list with 6,077 aces.
At the BNP Paribas Open, Del Potro did not face a break point in ousting Raonic in just 65 minutes. The Argentine and Canadian are knotted at 2-2 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series heading into their quarter-final battle.
"It'll be a difficult match. Wasn't that close of a match by any stretch of the imagination last week. I'm going to have to do a lot of things better," Raonic said. "He's been the best player in the world for the past four, five weeks winning Acapulco, winning last week as well. [He's] playing well so far this week, so it's going to be a difficult match. I'm going to have to do my things well if I want to give myself a chance."
Did You Know?
If Del Potro wins Miami, he will become the first player to win Acapulco and the 'Sunshine Double' in the same year.
