Roger Federer battles past Juan Martin Del Potro in three sets on Friday in Paris. Federer is joined in the semifinals by Rafael Nadal, a routine winner over Richard Gasquet.
(5) Roger Federer d. (4) Juan Martin Del Potro 6-3, 4-6, 6-3
Federer stopped a three-match losing streak Del Potro, including a setback just six days ago in the Basel title match, by prevailing in one hour and 43 minutes during quarterfinal action at the BNP Paribas Masters on Friday afternoon. Del Potro had triumphed in three sets in Basel while losing the middle frame, and this time roles were reversed. Federer came out firing and dropped a mere two service points in the entire first set. The fifth-seeded Swiss continued to hold until 4-5 in the second, at which point he cracked and was pushed to a decider.
Del Potro played from behind almost the entire way, but after recovering to win set two he also battled back from a break down in the third. The fifth-ranked Argentine got back on level terms with a break for 3-3 only to get broken again in the seventh game. Del Potro finally seemed to run out of gas in the wake of runs to finals in Tokyo (title), Shanghai (runner-up), and Basel (title). Federer broke him again at 5-3 to wrap up the proceedings in style. Next up for the 32-year-old is Novak Djokovic, who eased past Stanislas Wawrinka 6-1, 6-4.
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(1) Rafael Nadal d. (9) Richard Gasquet 6-4, 6-1
Nadal dropped serve for the second time all week but highlights for Gasquet have always been few and far between against the Spaniard and the Frenchman’s break back for 2-2 in the first set was the high point for him in this one. Gasquet held easily to push ahead 3-2 in the opener only to get broken at 3-3 in a game that started with a double-fault and a volley error. Nadal took care of his next two games to clinch the set.
From there it was all over for Gasquet, who is now 0-12 lifetime against Nadal. The world No. 10 donated serve in the first and third games of the second set and he quickly fell behind 4-0. Nadal won 12 of 16 service points in set two and his fifth break of the evening at 5-1 finished the job. The world No. 1 recorded five aces and no double-faults over one hour and seven minutes on the way to a semifinal showdown against either David Ferrer or Tomas Berdych.
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