lling the last space in his creaking trophy cabinet after beating Argentine Juan Martin del Potro in a four hour 25 minute epic to reach the Olympic men’s singles final at Wimbledon Friday.
The 30-year-old Swiss, who added a 17th grand slam title to his collection last month on the same Centre Court, survived a record-breaking scrap to win 3-6 7-6 19-17 in the longest men’s three-set match played in the professional era.
Federer, who won doubles gold in Beijing but had never previously reached an Olympics singles final, will face either world number two Novak Djokovic from Serbia or Britain’s Andy Murray, who he beat in the Wimbledon final, on Sunday.
They play their semi-final later. (Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)
