DEL PORTO BEATS SERRA

Juan Martin Del Potro has defeated Florent Serra of France in the opening round of the US Open. Del Potro won the match in the straight sets by 6-4, 7-6(4), 6-4. The Argentinean player looked in fine nick and flattened his opponent with some immaculate forehand shots. Del Potro, who has been given the 7^th seed in the competition, took 2 hours and 34 minutes to win the match. With this victory, Del Potro has reached the second round where he will play against Ryan Harrison of USA.

The first four games of the first set went with the serve and the scores were levelled at 2-2 at the end of the fourth game. Del Potro capitalized on the breakpoint that he got in the fifth game and broke the service of Serra to get ahead in the set. He held his service in the next game to make the score 4-2. The Argentinean superstar served out the 8^th game and the 10^th game and won the first set by 6-4. In the second set, both the players held their entire serves and the set went into the tie breaker. Del Potro started the tie breaker very well and took a lead of 3-1. He maintained the lead till the end of the tie breaker and sealed the second set as well. In the third set, Serra fought hard and he matched Del Potro shot by shot. There was no breakthrough in the third set till the end of the ninth game and Del Potro was ahead by 5-4 at the end of the ninth game. Serra failed to hold his service in the 10^th game and lost the match.

In the post match interview, Del Potro praised his opponent and said that Serra was very good on his service, but, he got a bit nervous during the vital moments of the match which proved to be costly for him.