Federer Escapes del Potro, Advances to Olympic Final vs Murray

Federer Escapes del Potro, Advances to Olympic Final vs Murray
2012 London Summer Olympics

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London, England

Top seed Roger Federer outlasted eight-ranked Juan Martin del Potro, 3-6, 7-6(5), 19-17, after playing the longest three-set singles match in the Open Era to barge into the men's tennis final against hometown boy Andy Murray at London Olympics.

The match lasted four hours and 26 minutes, eclipsing the previous record of four hours and three minutes set by Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in the semifinal round of the 2009 Mutua Madrid Open.

The encounter also surpassed by 30 minutes the previous longest Olympic singles, between Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Milos Raonic in the third round here.

"Juan Martin did so well to hang in there. I don't think I have ever played as long a set in a best of three-set match. It was very physical at the end and so mental. I feel horrible for Juan Martin, but he can be very proud," said Federer, who will try to match compatriot's Marc Rosset's gold medal-winning performance in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

Federer will face Murray for the gold in a rematch of last month's Wimbledon finals. Murray reached the final after beating Novak Djokovic of Serbia, 7-5, 7-5.

Federer is 8-8 against Murray in their head-to-head encounter but he won his last three matches against the Briton.

Murray is out to better the achievement of Charles Dixon, who won the silver medal at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics. That was the last medal won by Great Britain in Olympic tennis since then.

Federer hit 24 aces and 64 winners past del Potro, who committed 34 unforced errors - seven fewer than Federer. Del Potro struck 51 winners, 11 aces and converted two of his seven break point opportunities.

"To lose this way hurts a lot. It's very hard to talk about it right now. Everyone has their time. The US Open was my time, not today," del Potro said, referring to his 2009 victory over Federer in the 2009 US Open final.

Serena rips top-ranked Azarenka, takes on Sharapova for Olympic title

Two of the best grass-court players -- the United States' Serena Williams and Russian pinup girl Serena Williams -- will battle it out for the London Olympic Games women's tennis title, after notching easy victories at the Wimbledon courts.

It would have been a nerve-shattering experience for the world No 1, Victoria Azarenka, who was no match for the powerful ground-strokes unleashed by Serena, losing 1-6, 2-6.

Serena has been in menacing form as she aims to clinch her maiden Olympic Games singles title and Belarus's Azarenka looked completely out of sorts as she lost to the far-superior American fourth seed in just over an hour on center Court.

Williams, who slammed an amazing 16 aces and 33 winners, is now assured of at least a silver, though she looks good to overcome the Sharapova's challenge. Of the 10 clashes between the two top top-ranked players in the world, the 14-time Grand Slam winner Serena, has come up trumps in eight, including the last seven.

Serena, the two-time Olympic doubles gold-medallist sibling Venus, hasn't lost a set at the Games and has dropped only 16 games on way to her maiden Games' individual final. Serena played some awesome shots, shooting winners from difficult angles, pushing the reigning Australian Open champion into a corner.

Sharapova would know that reaching the final, after decimating compatriot and 14th seed Maria Kirilenko 6-2, 6-3, is only half the work done. The Russian, who is competing at the Games for the first time, was quoted as saying that it was a great feeling to be part of the Olympics, and that she wouldn't lose an opportunity to go for top prize.

Her Wimbledon success will certainly egg her on to push herself to the limit again against Serena and put an end to the dubious record of losing eight out of 10 times to the American.

There was plenty of drama in men's singles before World No 1 Roger Federer overcame a fighting challenge from Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro with a record-breaking 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 19-17 win and secure his maiden entry into the final.

The Swiss, who won the Wimbledon title recently, came within sniffing distance of a shock loss after dropping the first set, but finally overcame del Potro in four hours and 26 minutes, the longest three-set men's singles tie in the Open Era. He will play the winner of the other semifinal between Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray on Sunday.

Meanwhile, American brothers Mike and Bob Bryan entered their maiden Olympic men's doubles final with a hard-fought 6-4, 6-4 victory against the French pair of Julien Benneteau and Richard Gasquet. However, the US women's doubles pair of Lisa Raymond and Liezel Huber was shown the exit by the Czech duo of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka who won 6-1, 7-6.

The Bryans twins now have the chance of bettering their Beijing (2004) bronze-medal winning performance when they take on the winners of the match between Spain's David Ferrer/Feliciano Lopez and the French pair of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Michale Llodra.