PARIS: World number two Roger Federer kept his dream of a maiden French Open title alive when he battled past Argentine fifth seed Juan Martin del Po tro 3-6, 7-6, 2-6, 6-1, 6-4 in a nail-biting semi-final on Friday.
The Swiss, playing in his 20th consecutive grand slam semi-final, was one set from defeat when he turned on the style to set up a final with Swede Robin Soderling, who ushered out four times champion Rafael Nadal in the fourth round.
"I am a bit lucky but I fought," said Federer, who will on Sunday equal Ivan Lendl's record of 19 grand slam final appearances.
"I have an outstanding record against him (Soderling) but he played a fantastic match against (Fernando) Gonzalez," he added after the Swede earlier won in five sets against the Chilean.
"He (Soderling) has a lot of credit since he is the one who knocked out Rafa, who was the man to beat in this tournament," added the 13-times grand slam champion, who has beaten the Swede in all their nine previous encounters.
Federer, looking to equal Pete Sampras's record of 14 grand slam titles, got off to a miserable start as Del Potro relied on his big serve and punishing forehand to dictate the play.
Backed by a 15,000 capacity Centre Court crowd, he prevailed after three hours 29 minutes on his second match point to book his place in a fourth consecutive final on the Paris clay.
Federer had started confidently, moving Del Potro around the court and setting up two break chances in the second and fourth games.
The Argentine saved them with an ace and a service winner before taking control of the match, stepping into the court to dominate the points.
He broke for 3-2 when Federer netted a forehand and the same error from the Swiss in the ninth game gave Del Potro the first set after 38 minutes.
The 20-year-old Argentine had never taken a set from Federer in five previous matches.
The Swiss forced a tiebreak in the second after all games went with serve and that is when he showed glimpses of his brilliant best.
He won the tiebreak 7-2 when Del Potro sent a forehand long, triggering a prolonged roar from the crowd.
It failed to unsettle the towering Argentine, who broke in the first game of the third set and continued to look comfortable on his service games.
At 15-15 in the seventh game, it looked like Federer was warming Del Potro up at the net, simply feeding the Argentine with the ball instead of finding a passing shot.
Del Potro won the game when Federer sent a chipped forehand long. As the clock ticked past the two-hour mark, the Argentine bagged the set, his Swiss opponent firing a forehand wide.
Federer then started to mix up his game with sliced shots and was rewarded for his tactical change when the Argentine dropped serve in the fourth game of the fourth set by firing a forehand long to the delight of the partisan fans.
He broke again in the sixth game, following up on serve to send the contest into an unpredictable decider.
With his teeth now sinking firmly into his prey, Federer stole his opponent's serve in the first game of the fifth set as Del Potro's game continued to crumble.
The Argentine briefly regained his poise in time to break back for 3-3, only to drop serve again with a double fault.
Federer could sense victory and kept his composure. Del Potro saved one match point on his own serve but was helpless on the second when Federer followed a big first serve with a forehand winner to end the match.
Source:TOI
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