Tennis star Juan Martin del Potro bubbled with pride Wednesday after fellow Argentine Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected as pope -- and said he hoped he'd get a chance to meet him. "We are all so proud of him," said del Potro, who like many Catholics around the world had kept an eye on the papal election conducted at the Vatican, even as he went about his normal business. In del Potro's case on Wednesday, that was a brisk fourth-round victory over Tommy Haas to reach the quarter-finals of the Indian Wells hardcourt tennis tournament.

Juan Martin del Potro underlined his indoor credentials as he overcame a bleeding nose to beat Frenchman Julien Benneteau 7-6 (7/2), 6-3 in the Rotterdam Open final on Sunday. Del Potro, the 2009 US Open winner, claimed his fourth trophy indoors but had to play the last game with a nostril packed with cotton wool after suffering another of his occasional nosebleeds. In the previous game, Benneteau had saved four match points as he held on in a desperate attempt to pick up his first title in eight ATP finals.

* Federer sees off local favourite Tomic * Chardy upsets Del Potro to reach last 16 * Williams and Murray win in straight sets By Nick Mulvenney MELBOURNE, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Roger Federer was in no mood to let a trend develop after the first real upsets of the week at the Australian Open tennis on Saturday and slapped down local upstart Bernard Tomic with authority to reach the fourth round.