With his 5-set win on Monday night at U.S. Open men's final against Roger Federer, the world #1 and 5-time defending champion, Juan Martin del Potro announced to the rest of the tennis world that he is legit.
Del Potro came out in the worst fashion looking like someone who did not deserve to play in the U.S. Open final. The 20-year old Argentine lost the first set 6-3. It could have been much worse but Federer's service game was horrible all night. Del Potro did gain a stronghold in the match until the late part of the second set when he was able to force a tiebreak and win the set 7-6(7-5). Del Potro was going in the third set, but two consecutive double faults gave Federer the set, 6-4 and all hope looked lost.
But, Del Potro showed he had a lot of fight left in him. Facing a match point down 5-6 , and 15-40, he delivered with two screaming aces down the middle of 128 mph and 131 mph to survive the break and force a tiebreak where he dominated. Benefiting from a Federer double fault in the first game of the tiebreak, Del Potro took control and won the set, 7-6(7-4).
The most impressive part of the match for Del Potro was the fifth set where did nothing less than dominate. He broke Federer in the second game of the set going up 2-0, and never looked back. Del Potro and Federer stayed on serve until 5-2 in the fifth set with championship point, Federer hit a ball long and Del Potro dropped to the ground. He slayed the giant of men's tennis, the best player of all-time, Roger Federer to win his first major title and snapping Federer's five year, forty match win streak in New York City.
This win will do wonders for Del Potro's confidence especially because he beat Rafa Nadal in the semis. Del Potro will finish in the top 5 this year and is a serious threat to Federer, Nadal, Andy Murray, and Novak Djokovic for the years to come.
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