Argentine Juan Martin del Potro was the fifth player to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. He will be making his second successive appearance (1-2) at the prestigious circuit climax.

2009 In Review

Del Potro moved into the Top 5 of the South African Airways ATP Rankings again after capturing his first Grand Slam title at the US Open in New York. He is the fifth youngest man to win the US Open in the Open Era.

The 21-year-old Tandil native, the youngest player in the Top 20, began the season by capturing the Heineken Open title in Auckland (d. Querrey) and reached his second straight Grand Slam quarter-final at the Australian Open (d. Cilic, l. to Federer).

Del Potro’s progress up the South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings continued when he reached the BNP Paribas Open quarter-finals (l. to Nadal) and his first semi-final in an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami (d. Nadal in QFs, l to Murray).

On European clay, del Potro reached the Rome quarter-finals (l. to Djokovic) and made a run to the Madrid semi-finals (l. to Federer). At Roland Garros he advanced to his first Grand Slam semi-finals (l. to Federer in five sets).

By defending his Legg Mason Tennis Classic title at Washington (d. Roddick), he became the first back-to-back winner since Andre Agassi in 1998-99. At the Rogers Cup in Montreal he defeated Rafael Nadal and Andy Roddick to reach his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final (l. to Murray).

Del Potro then won his first US Open title (d. Federer) at his fourth attempt. At 6’6” he is the tallest Grand Slam champion in the Open Era and joined countryman Guillermo Vilas, the 1977 titlist, as the only South Americans to win in New York.

On his return to action the following month, del Potro was surprised in the first round of the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships by Edouard Roger-Vasselin and, hampered by an abdominal injury, was forced to retire in the second round of the Shanghai ATP Masters 1000 and the quarter-finals of the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris (Bercy).

Finals History

The Argentine secured his qualification for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in September.

Del Potro made his debut at Shanghai last year, failing to advance past the round robin group stage with a 1-2 record.