Federer Defeats Del Potro in Paris to Set Up Semis Meeting With Djokovic
November 1, 2013 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
Photo credit: Kenneth B. Goldberg
Fifth seed and 2011 champion Roger Federer will face second seed and 2009 titlist Novak Djokovic in on Saturday in the semifinals of the 2013 BNP Paribas Masters in Paris. Federer will attempt to improve his 16-13 FedEx ATP Head2Head lead against Djokovic, after he recorded a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 victory over fourth seed Juan Martin del Potro in one hour and 44 minutes on Friday.
Federer beat a player ranked in the Top 10 of the Emirates ATP Rankings for just the second time this year and advanced to his seventh tour-level semifinal of the season, which includes one ATP World Tour title at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle.
"That's definitely good for my confidence, because those are the kind of wins I need right now," said Federer. "It was clearly a huge victory, giving myself a chance to be in the semis here, and playing Novak is clearly very exciting."
Del Potro, a winner of four ATP World Tour 500 tournament titles this year, dropped to 15-2 since his U.S. Open second round loss to Lleyton Hewitt. He will next compete at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, which begins Monday at The O2 in London with Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, David Ferrer, Tomas Berdych, Federer, Stanislas Wawrinka and Richard Gasquet.
