SHANGHAI (AP) — Juan Martin del Potro’s bruised left wrist was placed in a splint after a nasty fall while winning his quarterfinal at the Shanghai Masters on Friday.
Del Potro is due to play Roger Federer in the semifinals on Saturday. The other semifinal features top-ranked Rafael Nadal against Marin Cilic.
Del Potro tumbled on the court at 2-2 in the third set against Viktor Troicki of Serbia and instinctively tried to break the fall with his left wrist. Del Potro, who has undergone surgery on both wrists, conferred with a trainer as he repeatedly shook his wrist.
Del Potro ended up breaking Troicki’s serve in that fifth game and prevailed 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.
“I don’t know how my wrist is after I fell down,” del Potro said before leaving for a local hospital. “I felt something wrong in that moment, but I continued to play, just playing (backhand) slices just to finish the match. I’m going to the hospital to see what the MRI says, and what the doctor says.
“Then I will take a decision for tomorrow. I would like to play and be 100 percent.”
Jorge Viale, del Potro’s agent, later tweeted that tests revealed a “wrist contusion” but “more serious problems were ruled out.”
“The doctors put a splint to immobilize the wrist,” Viale added. “Tomorrow morning, Juan Martin will decide whether he plays the semifinal.”
Del Potro beat Federer in the U.S. Open quarterfinals. Federer made another matchup by beating Richard Gasquet 7-5, 6-4.
“I hope for him (del Potro) that it’s nothing serious,” Federer said. “He’s had problems in the past and this is why he’s worried, rightfully so. At the end of the day nothing changes for me, I’ll be ready to come out here to play, and it’s for revenge for the U.S. Open.”
Meanwhile, Nadal tied Andre Agassi for sixth place on the list of all-time Open Era wins. Topping Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-3 was his 870th match win.
Nadal also improved his win streak to 15 having won the China Open last week. In Beijing, he defeated Dimitrov in a three-set semifinal.
Here, Dimitrov extended their quarterfinal to a third set when he rebounded from a 4-2 deficit to win the second-set tiebreaker.
In the third set, Nadal saved the one break point he faced in the match in the fifth game, and broke serve in the sixth to set up victory.
“Winning a lot of matches in a row, so I’m very happy for everything,” Nadal said. “Of course, being able to win the U.S. Open, Beijing, and being in the semifinals here … I have to try to keep focus and hold that momentum. We’ll see tomorrow if I can have another good day.”
Fourth-seeded Cilic stands between Nadal and a second ATP final in two weeks.
Cilic advanced to his first Shanghai semifinal by beating Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain 6-3, 6-4.
The 25th-ranked Ramos-Vinolas ended Cilic’s streak of winning 21 service games in the sixth game of the second set.
“I was a little bit angry with myself just with not keeping up the good tennis at that moment,” Cilic said.
