Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro reached his first grand slam quarter-final in three years with a straight-sets win over German Philipp Kohlschreiber at the Australian Open on Sunday. Del Potro defeated the unseeded German 6-4, 6-2, 6-1 to set up a rematch of his 2009 US Open final victory over Swiss third seed Roger Federer for his first grand slam title. The towering Argentine 11th seed is fighting his way back up the rankings after career-threatening wrist surgery in 2010 and the signs are promising that he may again challenge to return to his best-ever ranking of four. “I’m very happy to be in the quarters.
It’s amazing for me to play in another quarter-final in a grand slam for three years, it’s a good sign for my comeback,” he said. “At last year’s Wimbledon I had a very good match against Rafa (Rafael Nadal) in the fourth round, and I started to believe more in my game, on my serve, and then I closed the year almost in the top 10. “So that’s helped me to be ready for this year. Hopefully I will play healthy all this season and try to get in closer to the top guys.”
