Not many people would have thought that the record for the longest match in Olympic histroy set by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Milos Raonic would be broken for a long time. BUT, it happened at the dame games it was set at when Roger Federer moved into his first singles final at the Olympics after emerging as the last man standing against Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro in three pulsating sets 3-6, 7-6(5), 19-17 in just short of four and a half hours.

The Argentine won the first set after displaying some really aggressive tennis. With 2 aces in the set packed with 9 amazing winners, Del Potro got the decisive break in the set to take it without any troubles. Federer was a bit erratic in the opening set as he hit 7 unforced errors.

Federer was not going to give up easily! He won the second set in a really close tie break that could have gone in anyone’s favor. Federer was at his aggressive best with 20 winners and 10 really accurate aces. Del Potro was stunned with the change in Federer’s strategy, as his errors count reduced with the winners going really up.

The third is simply stole the show that the first two set tried creating. With both players pounding serves on each other and just hanging on by the thread to try progressing into the finals, Federer got the break at 9 games all to lead 10-9 and served for the match, only to see Del Potro fight back to get the match back at par. Servers then struggled to capitalize on their serves as the games became longer and closer.

Federer got his second break of the match and that proved to be the decisive one after he broke the Argentine to lead 18-17 and then successfully served it out to secure his berth in the last two. Emotions got better of both the players as one cried in disappointment while the other in ecstacy.

The two lifeless players hugged to appreciate the fight the two had produced. Federer raised his arms in victory as he now awaits the winner of Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray in the GOLD MEDAL MATCH.