January 24, 2012: Roger Federer tops del Potro in his 1000th ATP match!
Back in July 1998, the 16-year-old Roger Federer played his first ATP match in Gstaad, just a few days after winning the junior Wimbledon crown. Thirteen and a half years and 16 Grand Slam titles later, the great Swiss toppled Juan Martin del Potro on January 24, 2012, in the quarter-final of the Australian Open to set the semi-final clash against Rafael Nadal, also playing his 1000th ATP match in a career! Roger defeated Juan Martin 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 in an hour and 59 minutes for his 814th ATP win (186 defeats), losing serve once from six opportunities he gave to the Argentine and staling 45% of the return points to secure five breaks from eight chances, playing better and better as the match progressed.
Roger lost just five points behind his first serve and despite some problems with landing it in and with the second serve, he fends off five out of six break points to keep the pressure on his rival that failed to endure it. Juan Martin couldn't deliver the similar numbers behind his initial shot, losing 44% of the points in his games and suffering on both the first and second serve to get broken five times from eight opportunities he gave to Roger. The Swiss held at 15 in the opening game with a service winner and he moved ahead already in the second game when Delpo netted an easy smash.
A forehand drive-volley winner pushed Federer 3-0 up after just nine minutes and he squandered the opportunity to increase his lead before Juan Martin broke back in game seven to reduce the deficit. Federer held at 15 in game nine with a beautiful lob and the set was in his hands after a break at 15 in the game that followed when the Argentine hit a double fault. A backhand down the line winner in game four of the second set gave Roger the lead, saving break points at 5-3 to close the set with a service winner and move two sets to love up.
A return winner at the start of the third set gave Roger even more significant advantage and he marched towards the finish line thanks to another break in game seven when his backhand overpowered the rival's shots yet again. Serving for the win in the following game, the Swiss blasted a backhand down the line winner to wrap up the triumph and book the semi-final clash with Rafael Nadal that the Spaniard won in four sets after nearly four hours of play.
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2Dyu8O0
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