Top 5 battles between Roger Federer and Juan Martin Del Potro

#3. 2009 French Open semi-final

Del Potro put up a tough fight against Federer at the semi-finals of the 2009 French Open

With Rafael Nadal knocked out in the fourth round at the French Open, the path for a maiden French Open title and a record-equaling 14th Grand Slam title looked easy for Roger Federer. After beating Gael Monfils in the quarter-finals, Federer now had to go through 5^th seeded Juan Martin Del Potro in the semi-finals.Del Potro, who was in his maiden Grand Slam semi-final, was yet to take a set against Roger Federer let alone defeat him and was smashed by the Swiss in their previous Grand Slam encounter at the Australian Open where he won only three games.Surprisingly, it was Del Potro who took the lead in the match by taking the first set 6-3, thus winning a set against Federer for the very first time. However, Federer fought back and took the second set 7-6. Del Potro then took the third set 6-2 but Federer once again came back to level match by taking the fourth set 6-1.Federer eventually won the match by taking the final set 6-4 to reach the final, where he defeated Robin Soderling to win his first French Open title, complete a Career Grand Slam and equal Pete Sampras’ record for the most number of Grand Slam titles by a male player.