Philippoussis captures Champions Tour title, Del Potro wins Delray opener.

By Joshua Rey, www.yellowtennisball.com

Mark Philippoussis won 21 of 23 points on his first serve (91 percent) to ease past Aaron Krickstein 6-3, 6-2 and capture the ATP Champions Tour title on Tuesday.

It was a bittersweet end to the event for Krickstein, who resides in nearby Boca Raton and defeated John McEnroe one night earlier.

“It’s not every day that you get to play an event in your backyard,” said Krickstein. “It was nice this week to be able to stay at home and play at a Champions Tour event. This is the only one in the States so for me to be able to come out, entertain and play a few matches in front of a crowd was a lot of fun.”

Philippoussis actually lost his first match of the round robin on Friday to fellow Aussie Pat Cash. But when Cash fell in straight sets to Mats Wilander, Philippoussis played his way into the final.

“Everything came together for me tonight,” said Philippoussis. “I actually used to live in Delray Beach a few years ago. I’ve missed it and it’s been nice to be back.” Before the Champions Tour Final in the nightcap, Juan Martin del Potro made his much-anticipated Delray Beach debut.

Eighteen months is like a lifetime for a professional tennis player. Just ask del Potro, who took the tennis world by storm a year-and-a-half ago by beating Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer in  consecutive matches to win the 2009 US Open.

But right wrist surgery limited the 6’6” Argentine to just three tournaments in 2010 – his ranking plummeting to No. 484 on February 7th.

Just two weeks later, del Potro is up to No. 166 and rapidly returning to form, having reached back-to-back semifinals in San Jose and Memphis.

Playing in front of the second largest crowd in tournament history (5,756 fans), the 22-year-old upended Lithuanian upstart Richard Berankis 6-4, 6-1 in his first-round match at the Delray Beach ITC on Tuesday night.

“My first goal for this year is to play healthy,” said del Potro. “After a year away from competition, it’s very tough to come back. But I’m improving day by day and match by match. I made two semifinals in two weeks and my game is still improving tournament by tournament.”

Berankis, himself, has flown up the ATP World Tour rankings: from No. 324 at the end of 2009 to No. 74 this week. But the 2007 world junior champion has yet to reach the top of the sport, while del Potro has been there and done that.

Experience proved to be the difference on Tuesday as time and again del Potro prevailed on the key points, converting four of five break opportunities, while saving seven of eight against his own serve.

The 5’9” Berankis proved helpless as a heap of heavy serves headed his way. In the opening game, del Potro kicked two service winners up high to Berankis, who was forced to make contact with the ball above his shoulders.

Berankis boldly responded with a hold of his own, hitting three forehand winners and an unreachable overhead smash.

But in his next service game, the Lithuanian stumbled. Facing a break point, Berankis missed his first serve and del Potro teed off on his second, crushing a crosscourt backhand return before flattening a forehand that drew an error from his opponent.

Del Potro, however, was unable to consolidate, double-faulting to give the break back to Berankis.  With new life, Berankis grew in confidence. In the ninth game, the 20-year-old produced a backhand drop shot winner on the dead-run that stunned del Potro and his many Argentinean supporters.

“If you are a small player, you have to be very fast and very talented,” said del Potro. “He has a very good future… and he has the game to be in the Top 20 for sure.”

With blue-and-white flags and soccer shirts scatted throughout the stands, del Potro fought off a break point with a service winner, and then held for 5-4.

On the changeover, a group of children decked in Argentinean colors played a drum and cheered loudly for del Potro to win the set. They got their wish in the following game when del Potro dipped a backhand pass that drew Berankis’ volley wide.

“I really enjoyed the atmosphere,” said del Potro. “There were many Argentineans and many fans from all over every part of the world who came to see the match tonight. It was really beautiful.”

Berankis made a push to break del Potro’s serve to start the second set. But the Lithuanian let five break points slip away as del Potro punished three unreturned serves, hit a backhand volley winner and forced a backhand error from Berankis.

After missing his chances, Berankis gave away his serve with a double fault on del Potro’s first break point of the set. The former world No. 4 went on to clinch the win with a 120 mile-per-hour service winner out wide.

“I was very focused on the important moments, especially on the break points,” said del Potro. “I knew that would be my chance to beat him. I have a little more experience than him and that’s what was the difference today.”

Wednesday’s day session is highlighted by an All-American second-round match between No. 3 seed Sam Querrey and qualifier Ryan Sweeting at 12:30 p.m.

James Blake and Kei Nishikori will headline the evening session at 7:15 p.m. in a rematch of the 2008 Delray Beach ITC final. Then a qualifier, Nishikori defeated the top-seeded Blake in three set

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