Del Potro joins Murray, Wawrinka and Nishikori in U.S. Open third round

Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro continued to demonstrate the form of a top 10, if not a top five, player in a convincing 76 (75), 63, 62 victory over American Steve Johnson in U.S. Open secondround action.

The winner of the 2009 title, who has underdone numerous wrist surgeries in recent years but has shown championship form once again this summer, used his serve and potent forehand to take full control of the match after a tightly contested first set.

Del Potro played a strikingly clean match on Arthur Ashe Stadium on Thursday night, serving 15 aces versus just three double faults and striking 33 winners and only 23 unforced errors.

The 19thseeded Johnson, who briefly became the topranked American player this summer, had difficulty dictating the rallies due to his reliance on a slice backhand and ended the match with 24 winners and 35 unforced errors.

In the postmatch press conference, the 27yearold Del Potro, a former world No. 4 whose ranking currently stands at No. 142 due to his many wrist injuries and operations, said he felt the support of the fans in New York even though he was playing against a U.S. player.

“I think they are proud to see me playing tennis again after all my surgeries. They know what has been through to get here to come back on tennis,” the 6foot6 Argentine, the men’s singles silver medalist at the Rio Olympics, said.

“I think I serve much better than my firstround match. I played focusing on the important moments of the game. I played great at the tiebreak. At the end I saw him physically little tired, so I took all my chances to close the match in three sets,” he added.

Next up for Del Potro in the third round will be 11thseeded Spaniard David Ferrer, who battled back from a twosetstoone deficit Thursday to defeat Italy’s Fabio Fognini 60, 46, 57, 61, 64.

Earlier in the day, British No. 2 seed Andy Murray continued to exhibit the form that took him to his second Wimbledon title and second straight Olympic men’s singles gold medal earlier this summer, brushing aside Spain’s Marcel Granollers 64, 61, 64 to advance to the third round.

Japanese No. 6 seed Kei Nishikori also moved through to the third round with a hardfought 64, 46, 64, 63 victory over Russia’s Karen Khachanov, while Austrian No. 8 seed Dominic Thiem cruised past Lithuania’s Ricardas Berankis 64, 63, 62 and thirdseeded Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka topped Italy’s Alessandro Giannessi 61, 76 (74), 75.

In women’s secondround action, American world No. 1 Serena Williams rolled to a 63, 63 victory Thursday night over countrywoman Vania King.