Federer v Del Potro: Fed to reach Olympic final in straight sets
Published:All of Roger Federer’s victories over Juan Martin del Potro in matches over the best of three sets have been by a 2-0 scoreline, so more of the same can be expected in their Olympic semi final.
A guaranteed medal is assured for the winner and it is 1/5 that Federer competes for gold with either Andy Murray or Novak Djokovic and 4/7 that he does so by beating Del Potro in straight sets.
Federer has already beaten Del Potro in all five meetings this year and four of them have arrived without dropping a set.
The one exception was in their latest encounter at the French Open when Federer battled back from 2-0 down in the quarter finals.
But not too much should be read into this as clay is not the world number one’s favoured surface and both of his French Open showdowns with Del Potro have gone the distance.
On faster surfaces, apart from a short spell in 2009 before Del Potro suffered a long-term wrist complaint, Federer has been dominant, failing to drop a set in nine victories on either hard courts or grass.
Throw in that Federer won Wimbledon last month and that Del Potro was comprehensively beaten by David Ferrer in the same Grand Slam and this suggests that the Swiss maestro can move to within one match of a first Olympics singles gold to complete his trophy cabinet.
The big problem for Del Potro are the weaknesses in his movement, so much will rely on his serve and whether he can keep Federer in a defensive mode on the back foot.
Del Potro is 7/2 to beat Federer in the tennis odds and although this is unlikely, the 1/1 that he wins with a +3.5 game handicap could be worthy of consideration.
John Isner dropped just three games to Federer in the quarter finals and with Del Potro being a somewhat similar player, he could replicate this performance.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
