PARIS, (Reuters) – Argentine fifth seed Juan Martin del Potro overcame a bout of jitters to stroll into his first grand slam semi-final with a 6-3 6-4 6-2 win over Spaniard Tommy Robredo at the French Open yesterday.
However, there is little chance Del Potro’s nerves are likely to settle down over the next two days since his reward for overcoming the 16th seed is a last four clash with Roger Federer.
“I was very nervous all along the match and I never managed to really get in the match because my legs were really tense,” the 20-year-old, the youngest man left in the draw, told reporters.
“Maybe you couldn’t see that from the outside but I was pretty tense. Tommy played really well. Three sets, that is not a good indication of what the match was, because he really played well.”
Despite the nerves, Del Potro was barely troubled by Robredo and relied on his big serve and punishing forehand to unsettle the only Spaniard left in the draw following the fourth-round exit of four-times champion Rafael Nadal.
Del Potro, who held serve throughout, clinched victory on his fifth match point with a forehand winner.
He faces a monumental task in his next match as not only will he have the crowd, who desperately want to see Federer win, against him but he has never won a set in five previous matches against the Swiss world number two.
“It’s going to be very difficult. We all know how he plays, and we all know what he wants to achieve here now that Rafa is no longer here,” said Del Potro, who was beaten by the Swiss in Madrid last month.
“We all feel the pressure of the fans, everybody wants Roger to win this tournament but when I play Roger, I’ll have to play my game. Otherwise I’ll never achieve anything.”
