Del Potro beats Verdasco to keep hopes alive

Juan Martin Del Potro edged a tight battle with Fernando Verdasco to keep his ATP World Tour Finals hopes alive.

The pair - who were meeting for the first time on the ATP Tour - were both excellent on serve, with Del Potro coming out on top in a final set tie-break to win 6-4 3-6 7-6 (7-1).

Del Potro and Verdasco had both lost their opening matches of the tournament, the former to Andy Murray and the latter to Roger Federer, who meet tonight.

Both players began the match at London's O2 Arena confidently, before Del Potro secured an early break in the third game after a couple of errors from Verdasco.

The set continued with serve until the final game of the set where Verdasco created his first break point opportunities but they were both repelled by the big Argentinean and he took the set when Verdasco sent a forehand wide.

The second set began with both players holding serve relatively comfortably for the first six games before Del Potro created an opening at 0-30.

However, two impressive serves and a backhand winner down the line helped Verdasco and he hung on to his serve.

The Spaniard created his own chance in the next game on Del Potro's serve, and unlike his opponent, he made no mistake, as two Del Potro errors handed him the break of serve and the chance to serve for the set.

Verdasco took his chance in confident fashion as two forehands down the line and a smash brought him three set points, before an ace sealed the set and sent the match to a decider.

Like at the beginning of the second set, both players dominated their service games, trading powerful groundstrokes in the process.

However, Del Potro made his move in the sixth game as a forehand error and a double fault handed him three break points. Verdasco saved the first two, before he went long to give his opponent a crucial break.

He then went one away from the match with an easy hold, before Verdasco hung on to make the US Open champion serve out the match.

After impressing on his serve throughout the match, he was a heavy favourite to do so, but he failed to produce the goods as Verdasco hit back to give him the chance to serve to save the match.

At 40-0, it looked like an easy hold, before a double fault, a thunderous forehand winner down the line and a precise lob brought Del Potro back to deuce.

The play swung back and forth, with Del Potro seeing two match points come and go, as Verdasco dug in to make it 5-5.

A ruthless service hold by Del Potro and an indecisive service hold from Verdasco saw the match enter the tournament's first tie-break.

An ace and a mini-break made Del Potro favourite at 2-0, and a couple of errors from Verdasco saw the Argentinean progress to 5-1 up.

A further error from the Spaniard gave Del Potro five match points, and he wasted no time in taking the first to keep him in the competition.