It’s hard to recall the last time a player ranked as high as del Potro (a top 5 player) that was sideline for most of a year.  del Potro played 3 tournaments in all of 2010.  He reached the quarterfinals at the Australian Open, then lost in two first round tournaments in the Asian swing of the tour after the US Open.

In 2011, in two tournaments, del Potro won one match each.  That was progress.  His next goal?

Win two matches.

And he’s done that already.  He beat Gabashvili, a hard-hitting, if inconsistent player in the first round of the SAP Open in San Jose, and he just wrapped up a victory over Lukas Lacko of Slovakia, 6-1, 7-6(1).  In the matches he had won earlier, he struggled to win in tight sets.  It’s a sign of progress that he has easy sets.  We’ll see what progress he’s made when he faces Lleyton Hewitt in the next round.  Hewitt’s likely to be too crafty for del Potro.  If del Potro wins, then his return back to prominence may be much quicker than expected.  Stamina is an interesting issue, but he’s not had to play too hard.  Even so, it will be a match to watch.

The SAP Open has also been a coming-out party for the tour up-and-comers, otherwise known as David Ferrer’s whipping boys.  Richard Berankis and Milos Raonic, both of whom lost to Ferrer, will now meet each other in the quarterfinals.  Both arrived at quarterfinals in somewhat similar ways.  Both beat African American males.  Berankis beat Donald Young in three tough sets while Raonic beat James Blake somewhat more handily.

Tim Smyzcek (who?) is one American who has made it to the quarterfinals by upsetting 8th seed, Kei Nishikori in three sets.  He might be the last American standing unless Robert Kendrick can upset Gael Monfils.

In Rotterdam, Murray lost in the first round to Marcos Baghdatis, admittedly a tough first round, but a player Murray has beaten before.  He is playing doubles with his brother.

Soderling needed a third set tiebreak to beat Kohlschreiber and reach the quarterfinals where he will meet the player he beat last year in the final, Mikhail Youzhny.  Troicki will play Cilic.  Cilic, who has struggled for about a year, has finally won a match somewhat easily over Jurgen Melzer.

Berdych and Tsonga both needed three sets to beat their opponents (Tursunov and Llodra, respectively) to meet each other in the quarters, in a tough match for both players.  Ljubicic plays Baghdatis in the other quarterfinals.

In the Brasil Open, the highest ranked Brazilian, lefty Thomaz Belluci lost to Juan Ignacio Chela.  Chela will play top seed Almagro in the semis.  The other semis does feature a Brazilian, Ricardo Mello, playing Alexandr Dolgopolov.  Defending champ, Juan Carlos Ferrero, does not appear to be in the tournament.