This match will be interesting . It will be nice to see the two meet again . Its gona be attack attack attack !! :) I dont think at all that this is revenge ...Round robin in WTF vs Finals of the US open ? Revenge ? no no ....Fed needs to prove that he can take JMDP ...thats about it .
I reckon Fed is going to try and come out and work hard to get going early in the match . Dropping the first set every time is really not the way the FedExpress rolls ...

JMDP's serve worries me ...Fed needs to be serving well for this ...I reckon if he does we are looking at a tight victory for the maestro.

C'MON !

i think fed will win. i say 2 sets.

Ok fed, get ur revenge. I say 3 tight sets. C'mon!

I don't think revenge is a motive here at all. Fed likes del Potro and they have a lot of respect for each other. We all know Fed can beat him. It should be a great match.

chr18 , fed can beat him ..yes
he can beat fed ...yes ....
goes both ways .....its all just so difficult to predict these days .

Its just that we dont expect Fed to start committing insane UE ....its the only way he will loose ...its actually the only way he does lose....hmm.. .. thats why im tipping towards the FedExpress for the win ....the serve is going to be oh so crucial ...

C'MON !!

chr18, you sure Fed likes del Potro a lot? Remember what happened at the USO? Fed so pissed with Del Potro for taking so long to challenge!

Del Potro can challenge Fed and the match may go the distance but I seriously don't think Del Potro can win. After the USO, Del Potro is not his usual self, so I don't expect him to beat Fed, unless Fed self destruct.

lucky - Fed was more mad at the umpire.

I'm not physic, but don't you get the feeling Roger is in better shape than Juan Martin right now. Whether or not this is true will make a big difference in the match today. Sure it's only three sets, but Roger is almost on a mission, or maybe he is on a mission. Sure he has finished/solidified the year in the #1 position, but I believe he still feels WINNING is very important to him right now. I don't know, but I'm prepared for some great tennis from Roger tonight. Watch for it. Roger the maestro, Roger the perfectionist, Roger the ANIMAL! :) LOL

Incredible..Federer has got his serve broken in the first game in every match now..
and now a double break up for Del Potro..

incredible start. Fed is playing well and is STILL down a double break!

the FED is going to have to do a lot better than just well to WIN this ONE! :)

I hope the FED will rise to the challenge...

wow close call for yet another break for JM... Go FED go! :)

JM is playng awesome tennis, he will be hard to beat... Go Rog go! :)

Fed needs at least one set.. Come on!

C'MON! LOL Let's go Roger, let's go!

The serve is just not working for Federer.. not playing well and confident..

I would agree bjowad, it does not appear good at the moment, but the FED has been holding his own despite this low first serve condition in the second set. Maybe JM will get "tired"! LOL

Thank GOD for that drop shot! LOL We need much more BRILLIANCE here... Go FED go... :)

I don't like the idea of a tie break the way JMDP has been serving..., the FED has got to break him NOW! NOW! Would be a shame if the FED was not invited to play Saturday...

this was my thought before the tiebreak but was reluctant to post it:

"if fed gets tight 2nd set i'll be inclined to think they want murray out? if delpo wins in 3 with 6-9 games difference i think murray is out (read calculation on some blog)."

A M A Z I N G!!!! yahooooooooooooooo!!!! :)

this is turning out to be quite the set! :) Go Rog go! go, go... LOL :)

Good match... Congratulations to JMDP fans! and DEL POTRO!!! Wish the FED had played better, but very happy to see him remaining in the mix. :)

Very suspicious.

looks like murray is out, fed is leading group A, now hope for sod to beat davy since he would probably want to avoid fed in the semis which opens the door for nole?

Murray out as he never showed fighting spirit against fed in 3rd set bt instead crumbled.

alex, 11/27/09 12:07 AM French TV are also suspicious - one of their commentators (not G.Forget) implied the lst set score was not an accident.

Best scenario I could have hoped for as Fed and del Potro made it through and Mandy is out. He's just not up there with the big boys in the big tournaments. We saw another glimpse as to why del Potro will be #1 when Fed retires. Still hope if they play in the final Fed can beat him though :)

ed - I just didn't like the way fed's service suddenly capitulated in game 8 of the last set to lose the game so incredibly easily, as if he'd just worked out the arithmetic, plus that incredible UFE out of court in the same game - even on an off day he rarely does that, and he was playing brilliantly in the previous game.

yep, muzz kept playing that passive stuff on his 11 break points today, waiting for nando to make mistakes that never came. we all keep telling you muzz that you've got the talent and attacking skills to take the game to people, but you're taking this 'thinking man's' game too far.

go nole, blow them off the court.

"Still hope if they play in the final Fed can beat him though" :)
chr18

Yah baby! That would be "ULTIMATELY" cool!!!! That Mr. Del Potro is quite a POWERFUL hitter/player!!!! I would not be at all surprised if he were to take over from the FED as you've predicted... chr18 (someday...) :) For NOW the FED is still ALIVE! (in this competition) :) Saturday is another day... LOL Go FED go!

great match. shocking turn of events.

if delpo wins wtf can he overtake murray at #4?

ricky -

by 'shocking turn of events' I assume you're referring to all the confusion and delay in announcing who was actually through.

I think the whole set up was shoddy.

E.g. With the way one result so clearly affected the other, it would have been much fairer to have both final matches played simultaneously, like they do in soccer. Unlike muzz, they other two went into their match with a far better idea of what they had to do than muzz did. And whether or not fed did actually throw away that service game, the point is that, had he wanted to, it was possible in a way that it simply wasn't in the match played earlier.

i'm surprised chr18 didn't say delpo has fed's number by cementing his uso win.

deuce, the water bomb is ready and waiting for you but not sure you should waste precious water on chr's increasingly idiotic posts.

shocking turn of events in that Federer looked done, then Del Potro looked done, then it was MURRAY of all people who got left out

http://www.tennistalk.com/en/match_report/Barclays_ATP_World_To ur_Finals/2009/Roger_Federer_-_Juan_Martin_Del_Potro

alex: French is not my first language so sometimes it is a case of 'lost in translation'. I should have realised it was the 3rd set they were referring to. The lst and 2nd sets were for real.

geez ed...
Roger would never lose on purpose esp to a guy who beat him on the big stage the last time they met.
I don't think that Roger even prefered JMDP to qualify rather than Murray.
in many many matches that Roger has played,he has happened to play a poor deciding set,or lose his own service game after failing to convert break points. this one was just another! :S
he lost the 5th set in USO quite easily,so that was suspicious too?
please people!

niloofar: I was simply telling Alex about the speculations made on French TV after the match - which, by the way, was by far the best of the week so far.

Its a shame for the fans and the organizers that Murray's not in ... one game !? ouch.

alex and niloofar: lesson learnt. Dont repeat gossip until you're sure of your facts particularly - in my case - as I am not a native French speaker . Having checked with French friends who heard the comment, I now know they were speculating that the English press would suspect dirty tricks.

thanks ed! :)
well I hope the comms are wrong and the british media doesn't do so. actually what evidence is there to show Roger "tanked"? a poor deciding set?!!!
well the ones who suspect,need to rewatch all Roger's matches this year AND the manner in which he lost those break points in the 3rd set,definitely not deliberate.
the only thing that can be said is that IF Fed knew that he was already through, maybe he didn't have enough adrenaline to compete at the highest level. only *maybe*

niloofar: The French are a bit sensitive on the subject of 'fair play' at the moment!! The Henry Hand Ball incident has divided the nation. By winning the 2nd set, Federer knew he was home and dry so, you're right, the adrenaline rush would have subsided.