World No 1 sets up date with del Potro, Scot to meet Janowicz in semis
The spectators were still settling into their seats when Juan Martin del Potro chased a David Ferrer overhead into the corner, only to lose traction on the slick grass.
Del Potro’s knee straightened suddenly, then bent backward. The tall Argentine crumpled to the ground and barrel-rolled twice into the far edge of Centre Court.
Only five points into the Wimbledon quarterfinal, the match appeared over before it had really gotten going.No such luck for Ferrrer.
First at a limp, then at a jog, then at a sprint, the eighth-seeded del Potro recovered for a 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (5) victory over the fourth-seeded Ferrer to make his first Wimbledon semifinal. His opponent will be top-seeded Novak Djokovic, whose 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-3 victory over No. 7 Tomas Berdych ended less than five seconds after del Potro hit his final shot.
“It’s really, really painful,” del Potro said of the injury that has been bothering him since he first slipped on the Wimbledon turf last Saturday. “I twist my knee once again, but the doctor gave me some magic pills. I could finish the match. I’m so glad to go through.”
The following match on the Centre Court, however, was not such a quick straight-set affair. Second seed Andy Murray of Great Britain and Spain’s Fernando Verdasco took two sets each before the Scot prevailed in the final set 7-5 to enter the semifinals.
Verdasco had taken the first two sets 6-4, 6-3 before Murray got his act together to keep his chances alive by clinching the third and fourth 6-1, 6-4.
Murray will meet Jerzy Janowicz, who became the first Polish man to reach a Grand Slam semifinal by beating countryman lukasz Kubot 7-5, 6-4, 6-4.
The 24th-seeded Janowicz, who reached the third round last year at the All England Club, is playing in only his third grass-court tournament. Prior to this year's Wimbledon tournament, he lost in the first round in Halle.
Meawnhile, during a tournament with more than its share of twists and turns, Djokovic and del Potro have gone through virtually unscathed — on the scoreboard at least. Neither man has dropped a set.
Djokovic overcame a two-break, 3-0 deficit in the second set to cruise to his latest victory over Berdych, the 2010 Wimbledon runner-up. Djokovic is in his 13th straight Grand Slam semifinal and in search of his seventh major title.
Del Potro, meanwhile, is starting to show the form he used to win his only major championship, the U.S. Open in 2009. He has been wracked with pain through most of his stay at Wimbledon, where the slickness of the grass has created its share of complaints.
But del Potro wasn’t the only one hurting Wednesday. Ferrer has also been dealing with ankle and toe issues. He cut short his pre-match hitting session because of pain in his ankle but said that was no excuse. Ferrer, who crossed the net to run toward del Potro to check on him when he fell, said he didn’t see much change in his opponent’s play after the injury. “Juan Martin, he was more focused, he was playing more aggressive than me and he served very, very good in all three sets,” Ferrer said.
Soon after his match, del Potro had an appointment with an ice tub and his trainers. His knee, mummified with athletic tape even before he went down in Wednesday’s match, needs work. But if the doctors can patch him up, he’s certainly playing some of his best tennis.