TOKYO —Argentina’s Juan Martin Del Potro ended top seed
David Ferrer’s reign as Japan Open champion with a 6-1, 7-5 quarterfinal
victory on Friday.
Fifth seed Del Potro, whose heroics helped Argentina reach
the Davis Cup final last month, never looked like losing his grip on the match
after a rousing start against the Spanish world No. 5.
Second seed Andy Roddick eased past Serbia’s Viktor Troicki
6-3, 6-4 to book his place in the last four of the $969,000 Tokyo tournament.
"With Ferrer you never feel you have the edge," said the
20-year-old, one of several players chasing a spot in the season-ending Tennis
Masters Cup.
"I’ve improved my mental preparation. I’m more positive now
than before. That helped me put Ferrer away when he came back at me in the
second set."
Del Potro faces fourth seed Richard Gasquet in Saturday’s
semifinals after the Frenchman crushed German 12th seed Rainer Schuettler 6-3,
6-2.
Del Potro tore through the first set in just 27 minutes
against a listless Ferrer, who lifted his game in the second but ran into a
red-hot opponent.
The lanky Argentinean broke for 5-3 only for Ferrer to
immediately claw back the break but was unable to repel Del Potro’s onslaught
for long.
Ferrer, who suffered an embarrassing early exit in Beijing
last week, had little left in the tank against a player he is set to meet again
in next month’s Davis Cup final in Argentina.
Sensing Ferrer’s energy levels were low, Del Potro moved in
for the kill as the Spaniard served at 5-6, finishing off the match with a
crushing forehand into the corner.
A fifth title of the year would move Del Potro into the
coveted eighth spot in the year-long rankings and in line for a place in the
next month’s Masters Cup.
Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray
have already qualified for the eight-man Shanghai shootout.
"I really don’t care about Shanghai," shrugged a despondent Ferrer. "I think
it’s going to be hard for me to get there now."
