Federer def. Delpotro (Olympics 2012 Semi-Final Post Match Report)

Roger Federer walked on to the court determined to make his move and take another step towards achieving career golden slam. Delpotro had a mind of his own as he stepped onto the court to fight for a spot in the gold medal match. Federer was slow from the start, while Delpotro was brilliant from the start and after just 36 minutes Federer found himself down a set and just one set away from defeat. But we all know that Federer never gives up, and fight he did to take the second set in tie break and win the marathon 3rd set 19-17. The 3rd set alone lasted 163 minutes.

Let us have a look at the numbers behind Federer's win. How Federer was able to tough it out and how Delpotro got his heart broken.

Description	Federer	Delpotro
Aces	24	11
Double Faults	2	5
First Serve	68%	70%
Points won on first serve	75%	72%
Points won on second serve	62%	56%
Receiving points won on first serve	28%	25%
Receiving points won on second serve	44%	38%
Break points	2/13	2/7
Winners	64	51
Unforced errors	41	34

Both players played some brilliant tennis, especially when they were down. Federer broke Delpotro to move ahead 10-9 in the decider and serve for the match, but Delpotro played some of his best tennis to break Federer at love to bring the match back to serve.

The stats are clearly in favour of Federer. Federer won 3% more points than Delpotro behind his first serve, and a good 6% more points behind his second serve.

Federer was the better returner of the two, winning 3% more points as compared to Delpotro when returning the first serve and a good 6% more points when returning the second serve.

Delpotro had played a clean match for the first two sets. The winners-unforced errors differential for Delpotro for the first 2 sets was +10, while for Federer it was only +3. It was the third set where Federer made his move, Delpotro was at +7, whereas Federer was at whooping +20.

This was a great comeback win from Federer. It reminds me of another great comeback win in the semi-finals of Olympics by another player with a one handed back-hand, it was way back in 2004 Athens Olympics by Justine Henin. She was down 1-5 in the decider but went on to win 8-6 against Russian Myskina. Myskina went on to loose the bronze medal match, whereas Henin went on to win gold. Though Federer's comeback win was not of that magnitude, but it was great in that he never gave up and kept fighting. All the credit to Delpotro as well, who fought fearlessly till the very end and never gave up, but in the end it was Federer who proved too good.

Henin's story make me wonder, will Federer win the gold and will Delpotro loose the bronze medal match? Only time can tell us.