Roger Federer downs Juan Martin Del Potro to reach semis – French Open 2012
One of the best players in the history of tennis, Roger Federer, showed his true class by bouncing back from the deficit of two sets to beat former world number four, Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina, in a five set thriller 3-6,
6-7(4), 6-2, 6-0, 6-3 in the quarter-finals of French Open in Paris on Tuesday.
The Swiss Maestro required three hours and 14 minutes to score victory over his opponent.
Del Potro drew the first blood, as he snatched four of the opening five games to attain a 4-1 advantage. Federer pulled one back in the sixth and held his next serve to reduce the trail to 3-4 but the Argentinean grabbed two consecutively
after that and won 6-3.
In the second set, Del Potro and Federer swapped a break in the first six games and evened out the score at 3-3. The rest of the proceedings went with serves to take it to 6-6 and forced a tie-breaker. Del Potro claimed an early
lead and capitalised on it to triumph 7-6(4).
Federer did not surrender after getting two sets to love down and made an ideal start to the third, clinching first three games to move ahead 3-0. Serving to stay in the set at 2-5, Del Potro lost his serve once more and went down
2-6.
The Swiss Maestro played flawlessly in the fourth set, as he did not allow the Argentinean to win even a single game till the end, breaking him three times and pocketing it 6-0.
Federer continued to perform at high class in the final set, breaking Del Potro in the fourth game and winning his subsequent serve to build a 4-1 lead. The Swiss legend maintained it till the end of the contest and captured it
6-3.
Talking to the newsmen after the match, Federer said, "I thought it was very good conditions for him. I knew it was going to be tough anyway. I have been struggling to find my rhythm. I did feel it in the first set, even though
he was up two sets. I was finding a way back and starting to feel better.”
He added, “[I was] just trying to figure out how to play a guy who returns from so far back on a slow court. Do you try to serve through him? Which I tried; [it] didn't work. Or do I try and move it around a bit? And that worked
a bit better, but it was really in the mix up that I found success.”
The Swiss Maestro will play reigning world number one, Novak Djokovic, in the semi-finals.
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