What an epic match between Roger and Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina! The contest lasted 4hrs and 26 minutes, the longest match in the Open era and Olympic tennis history! It brings me memories of their meeting in the US Open final back in 2009 where Del Potro outlasted Federer in five sets, but this time it was Roger who outlasted Del Potro 19-17 in the decider! I was very happy to be able to watch the match live on my laptop, even if it wasn't in high definition!

Roger had a slow start to the match, held his first few services games with a bit of trouble but was eventually broken by Del Potro to go down 5-3. Del Potro served out the set with ease and Roger knew immediately he'd have to raise his game and plan new tactics if he wanted to get his first Olympic medal. He had nothing to lose. Del Potro had everything to lose.

The second set was obviously tighter, Roger was starting to look more patient in rallies even though his unforced errors increased due to Del Potro's powerful play. Both players had break points but none of them were converted and the set went into a tiebreak. 

Roger led 4-1 with a mini-break in the tiebreak before Del Potro leveled the score. Del Potro then gave Roger two set points, saved one of them but Roger fired an ace to claim the set.

The deciding set was so intense at many stages, both players had several break points but failed to convert them until Roger broke at 9-9 to serve for the match. Game over for Del Potro? It wasn't and he broke Roger to love astonishingly.

It was amazing to think how many break points Roger and Del Potro had wasted during the whole deciding set, even more amazing to think that they saved them with extreme pressure. I mean, Roger had to serve several times just to stay in the match and you wonder why didn't Del Potro decide 'its now or never' and put all his best efforts to break Roger in those return games. 

Roger then was serving clutch, having not really any big costly slips and it was Del Potro who under pressure and seemingly had less gas in the tank. Roger then had three break points at 14-14 all but Del Potro miraculously won five points in a row to lead once again 15-14.

Roger finally broke at 17-17 thanks to a Del Potro forehand error and for the second time, had the opportunity to serve out the match. On his second match point, he traded backhands with Del Potro until the Argentine hit a backhand that hit the net cord which forced Roger to approach the net with sliced backhand but then Del Potro landed a backhand into the net which gave Roger entry to his first Olympic final and ensured that he would obtain at least a silver medal. 

Well, Roger is obviously going to fight for gold and his opponent in the final is Murray who beat Djokovic in the other semifinal. I'm not sure if the final is best out of five sets like it was in Beijing 2008, but I think the match will be very close. It's hard to pick the winner, I'm obviously a Fed fan but Murray would definitely want to get revenge after Roger beat him in four sets at the Wimbledon final a month ago. But it all depends on Roger's physical condition. Playing 4.5 hours is obviously going to leave him fatigued and even a day's rest might not be enough. If he can recover, than I predict him to win 7-6 5-7 7-6 7-5. 

The epic match point - check it out. Might be removed by Olympic Committee soon due to copyright.