Top 5 battles between Roger Federer and Juan Martin Del Potro
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 Masters
Here 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.