Tennis: Kamke topples del Potro at rainy Miami

Juan Martin del Potro and Tobias Kamke. AP

MIAMI – Fifth-seeded Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina crashed out of the Miami ATP Masters on Friday, falling 7-6 (7/5), 6-1 to 89th-ranked German Tobias Kamke in a second-round match disrupted by rain.

Del Potro had just dropped the first-set tiebreaker when the match was halted by rain, the break lasting almost three hours.

The delay clearly did no favors to the world No. 7 from Argentina, although he said that the wait wasn’t the problem.

“Yeah, we had a big delay, but it doesn’t affect my game,” he said. “I think I came to the court again trying to be aggressive, but I made a lot of mistakes,” he said.

Del Potro had stormed to the final of the Indian Wells Masters last week with wins over world No. 3 Andy Murray and world No. 1 Novak Djokovic.

His semi-final win over Djokovic in the California desert had ended the Serbian star’s match winning streak at 22, and del Potro then extended Rafael Nadal to three sets in the final.

However, he said losing his opening match in Miami wasn’t the result of a let-down, either physical or mental.

“I was excited to play here, but, you know, just a bad day and he played really well,” del Potro said. “He took the chance to beat me tonight, and I think that’s it.”

Kamke, 26, next faces Austrian Jurgen Melzer, who beat Spain’s Marcel Granollers 6-3, 6-4.