Rafael Nadal stormed through his US Open 2017 Quarter-final match against Andrey Rublev and booked his place in the semi-finals. Everyone expected for Roger Federer to join Nadal but Federer didn’t have the strength to go through Juan Martin del Potro who ended on the winning side of the 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (8), 6-4 match. This meant that we are still short of US Open matchup between Federer and Nadal. In the last 10 years, Federer vs. Nadal matchup was just one match shy for six times. Considering Roger Federer is already 36 years old, this may have been one of the last chances for that to happen.
On Wednesday night del Potro was better and more confident player. Federer just couldn’t find his rhythm, something that troubled him since US Open 2017 started. In the first two matches, against F. Tiafoe and M. Youzhny, he had to go five sets to get a win. He then faced F. López and P. Kohlschreiber respectively, finishing both matches 3-0. This gave hopes that Federer might be able to go all the way and claim his 20th Grand Slam title, but at the end, he couldn’t live up to expectations.
“It was one of those matches where if I ran into a good guy, I was going to lose, I felt” – said Federer after the match. It wasn’t a secret that Federer didn’t come 100% fit on the tournament. He previously struggled with the back injury that also prevented him to compete on the French Open.
Federer and del Potro faced 22 times so far, with Federer claiming the victory 16 times. The two faced in US Open in 2009 as well, when del Potro defeated Federer in the finals and claimed his first Grand Slam title.
Federer had an amazing 2017 so far, winning Australian Open and Wimbledon, and bringing his Grand Slam titles count to 19. His current 2017 record stands at 39 wins and just 4 losses.
