Argentine man-mountain Del Potro on fire

By Paul Majendie

LONDON (Reuters) - Roger Federer once predicted that Juan Martin Del Potro would be "a great player in the future" and he looked spot on at Wimbledon on Tuesday.

The Argentine man-mountain just kept firing off cannonballs from a great height. All Arnaud Clement could do was offer a Gallic shrug as he went down 6-3 6-1 6-2.

Playing his first game on grass since Wimbledon last year, the lanky 20-year-old Del Potro -- he is a towering 6 foot 6 inches -- really found his length, showed off his speed and delivered ace after ace.

"I had a good start," he told reporters. "Clement is a good player. He knows how you can play on this surface. He was in the quarter finals last year."

Del Potro, who practised on grass back home in Argentina for a week beforehand, said "I want to learn to play on this surface."

The Argentine had taken Federer to five sets in an epic semi-final on clay at the French Open earlier this month.

This time the fifth seed delivered a cold-blooded execution to underline his position as one of the most improved players in the world.

The sun-drenched crowd on Court One gasped at the sheer power of the Argentine. But there were few rallies for them to exhale the occasional "Ooh" and "Aah" of appreciation.