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Juan Martin Del Potro -
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Tournament favourite and world number nine Juan Martin Del Potro gave a strong exhibition of attacking tennis as he thumped an out-of-sorts Viktor Troiki 6-3 6-2 in the Heinken Open quarter-final on Thursday.
Troiki had struggled in the heat on Wednesday in a marathon match with Juan Monaco and appeared to be feeling the effects, seemingly unable to compete with the Argentinian from the baseline.
A relaxed Del Potro was very satisfied with his quarter-final performance."
"I [played] much better than yesterday and I don't give any chance to Troiki".
The 1.98m Argentinean is tournament top seed for the first time ever in his career but insists it doesn't add any expectation.
"I don't feel any extra pressure, I just have to play my best" he said.
The Serbian had three break point opportunities in the first set but Del Potro denied them all and converted his own chance when it came along.
In the second set Del Potro broke Troiki three times in a row to sprint to a 5-0 lead.
He then seemed to lose concentration as the 22-year-old Serbian threatened a brief comeback with a break of his own.
It was a momentary blip however and Del Potro served out the set to take the match in just over an hour and a half.
The Argentinean will face either third seeded Swede Robin Soderling or American qualifier John Isner in Friday's semi final.
Both have huge serves and Del Potro is aware of the challenge ahead.
"I need to be focussed on the returns. [But also] if I lose my serve tomorrow I will be in trouble".
