The 2017 Miami Masters is gradually reaching its climax with the third round of the Women’s tournament over and that of the men’s tournament halfway over. The third round of the men’s tournament has so far witnessed Rafael Nadal and Kei Nishikori surviving scares from Philipp Kohlschreiber and Fernando Verdasco respectively to reach the fourth round.It is only a few hours before the third round resumes at Miami and the match which is eagerly awaited is Roger Federer vs Juan Martin Del Potro. Both of them recorded straight set victories in the second round with Federer defeating teenage sensation Frances Tiafoe and Del Potro defeating Dutchman Robin Haase.Both players have met each other 20 times with Federer leading the head to head 15-5. This will be their first meeting since the 2013 World Tour Finals where Federer defeated the Argentine in a round-robin match. Despite the huge gap in their head to head, Federer and Del Potro have played many close encounters over the years and their meeting at the Miami Masters will be expected to be a classic.
Read more: Federer sets up epic clash against Juan Martin Del Potro at Miami MastersHere are five of the most closely contested battles between Federer and Del Potro.
#5. 2012 Swiss Indoors final
Both Federer and Del Potro had been in brilliant form during 2012 and were the top two seeds at the Swiss Indoors tournament at Basel. While defending champion and top seed Federer was coming into the tournament at the back of a semi-final exit at the Shanghai Masters, Del Potro had just won the Erste Bank Open in Vienna a few days back.Both players were playing brilliantly throughout the tournament and went on to reach the final. This was the seventh meeting between Federer and Del Potro in 2012 with the Swiss maestro winning all of the previous six matches.Del Potro took the first set 6-4 but Federer came back to take a nail-biting second set 7-6 by edging Del Potro in the tie-break 7-5. The third set was an equally exciting one with neither of the players willing to throw in the towel. This set also went to a tie-break but it was Del Potro who took the set to win his maiden Swiss Indoors title and record his first victory over Federer in three years – a definitive milestone for the Argentine.
#4. 2013 ATP World Tour Finals
Federer did not have the best of World Tours in 2013 as he was then going through a lot of injury struggles. Del Potro on the other hand, was having a pretty good year as he returned to the Top 5 of the ATP rankings. Both players made it to the World Tour Finals in London.Both Federer and Del Potro were drawn in Group B which meant that it would be the third consecutive tournament where the two would be locking horns, having previously met at the Swiss Indoors and the Paris Masters with Del Potro winning the title at the former, and Federer winning their quarter-final at the latter.Both players lost to Novak Djokovic and beat Richard Gasquet, which meant that their final round-robin match would be a virtual quarter-final with the winner progressing to the semi-finals. Del Potro made a brilliant start to the match by taking a 4-1 lead in the first set. Federer tried to fight back but could not stay in the set for long as Del Potro won 6-4.The second set was pretty intense and it went to a tie-break which Federer won to level the match. In the third set, Del Potro began superbly by taking a 3-0 lead and looked on course to reach the semi-finals.However, Federer held his nerve and took the set to 5-5. In the eleventh game of the set, Federer made a decisive break to serve for the match. He hit an ace to take the set and the match, thus qualifying for the semi-finals where he was eventually beaten by Rafael Nadal.
#3. 2009 French Open semi-final
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 5th 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.
#2. 2012 London Olympics semi-finals
Federer regained the No.1 ranking by winning his 7th Wimbledon title in 2012. His next tournament was the London Olympics, where he was looking to win his first ever Singles gold medal, having won a doubles gold medal in 2008 with Stan Wawrinka.After surviving a scare from Colombia’s Alejandro Falla in the first round, Federer won his next three matches in straight sets to reach the semi-finals where he was up against Juan Martin Del Potro, this being their 6th meeting this year with Federer winning the previous five.Del Potro began the match brilliantly and took the first set 6-3. The second set was a nail-biting one and went to a tie-break. Federer levelled the match by taking the tie-break 7-5. What followed the second set was the set of the tournament without the shadow of a doubt. Both Federer and Del Potro played some dazzling tennis in the third set as it went to sudden death. Federer ultimately held his nerve and edged out Del Potro 19-17 to reach the Singles final of the Olympics for the very first time in his career.Federer however, had to settle for silver as he was beaten by Murray in straight sets. Del Potro would claim the bronze medal after beating Novak Djokovic in the bronze medal play-off. The Federer-Del Potro semi-final is the longest “best of three sets” tennis match, lasting 4 hours and 26 minutes, with the final set alone lasting 2 hours and 43 minutes.
#1. 2009 US Open final
After winning the French Open and Wimbledon, Roger Federer had returned to World No.1 and was the heavy favourite to win the US Open title despite Rafael Nadal returning from injury. Federer made it to the final but his opponent in the final would be Juan Martin Del Potro, who defeated Nadal in the semi-finals.This was Federer’s third Grand Slam meeting against Del Potro in 2009 alone, after his victories at the quarter-finals of the Australian Open and the semi-finals of the French Open. Federer made a remarkable start to the match and took the first set 6-3. However, Del Potro rebounded well by taking the second set 7-6 before Federr restored the lead by taking the third set 6-4. Del Potro once again came back by taking the fourth set 7-6 to level the match.The final set eventually turned to be one-sided and surprisingly, Del Potro took the set 6-2 to win his maiden Grand Slam title and become the first Argentine to win the US Open since Guillermo Vilas in 1977. It was also his first victory over Roger Federer.
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