Roger Federer's French Dream Alive After Thriller

5 months ago 06th Jun 12:42

Roger Federer’s dream of lifting his maiden French Open title tomorrow remain in tact after he saw of fifth seed Juan Martin Del Potro in a five set thriller 3-6 7-6 (7-2) 2-6 6-1 6-4.

Like many of Federer’s matches over the tournament his was out played in the first couple of sets by the vastly improved hit hitting Del Potro but showed a champions heart as he battled back to win.

Argentine de Potro was playing in his first Grand Slam semi final and if he was nervous it certainly didn’t show as his opponent struggled to hang onto his serve.

The twenty year old and fifth seed wasn’t having any problems with his own serve as the former world number one struggled to make any impact on it. After some impressive ball striking and ground strokes, accompanied by a second break of Federer’s serve and the underdog Del Potro convincingly had the first set.

The French crowd, who were mainly on the side of the Swiss star, were stunned into virtual silence as Federer was still struggling to get a handle on the Argentine’s serve. However Federer was holding on to his own and the second set was going by without much action.But it was Del Potro who got the first chance to break in the set when Federer went 0-30 down two more points and Del Potro would have opened up a two set to love lead but some gutsy play from the former world number one saw him hang on and the set went to a tie break.

Federer dominated the tie break opening up a 6-1 lead converting his second set point to level the match and gave his fans something to cheer about.

And while it seemed that the momentum was now with Federer any thought that the Swiss player had of forging a lead were quickly suppressed by Del Potro as he held his nerve to break early in the set. Holding his serve impressively Del Potro broke again and an upset looked like it could be on the cards as he took the set to once again take the lead.

But Federer’s desire to finally get his hands on the Grand Slam that has eluded him his entire career, mainly thanks to one certain Spanish player, shone through as he dug deep to mount an impressive fight back.

The Challenge from Del Porto began to fade in the fourth set as his first serve deserted him shots that he had been hitting with pace and power in the early part of the match were beginning to look tired and Federer took advantage as he at he at long last broke the Argentine’s serve.

Del Potro appeared to give up on the fourth set his mind already thinking about the fifth and final set and where many players would have given up he put up some impressive resistance.

With the crowd chanting ’Roger, Roger’ that spurred the Swiss player to victory as Del Potro continued to struggle to land a first serve and Federer took full advantage to seal the set and the match.