Juan Martin Del Potro: The Roaring Argentinian at Paris

Talking about "Cruise Control" in the French Open 2009, only Juan Martin Del Potro seems to have taken this route in the highly convoluted plot of this year's dirt slam edition. 

The stripes on his T-shirt might be a turn-off to some, but he is running amok with an almost perfect execution of every shot that comes his way. It appears as though he is bouncing from confidence to confidence with each passing match.

His only loss of a set so far has come in his fourth round win over Jo-Wilfred Tsonga, and only after making a comeback from 2-5, breaking Tsonga twice while he was serving for the set, forcing a tie-break which he eventually lost.

Clay has always been Argentinians' forte and Del Potro is no exception to the rule. In fact his ascension to the top of the pile has been on account of a couple of ATP clay titles last year apart from his other hard court achievements.

The 20 year old Tandilian's opponent in the last eight is the Spaniard Tommy Robredo who will be seeking his own redemption in addition to avenge his countrymen's premature ouster from their favourite part of the season.

Their meeting promises to be a cracker, though in all eventuality and given Del Potro's run of form till now, he will surely be the favourite for tomorrow's encounter.

And if he passes that test, waiting for him in the semi-finals should be the World No 2, Roger Federer, who is still searching for the elusive slam to update his professional biography. That's provided Gael Monfils doesn't add his bit to  the tournament's upset tally.

This year, whenever these two have battled each other, the end result has gone in Federer's favour. The Swiss leads their overall head-to-head standing 4-0. But thinking of a really rainy day, Del Potro can't be overstepped for he did cause an upset to Andy Murray in the recently concluded Madrid Masters semi-final.

Thus, keeping in mind all the bizarre occurrences that have taken place this year, it shouldn't happen that Del Potro becomes an impervious element just to end up springing a surprise when the world's back is turned and most importantly, from a certain Swiss player's fans' point of view, when it's needed least.