Paris, France (Sports Network) - Sunday's men's French Open final will pit three-time runner-up Roger Federer against first-time Grand Slam finalist Robin Soderling.
The second-seeded former No. 1 Federer came from behind to stave off a major scare from fifth-seeded Argentine Juan Martin del Potro 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 2-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the second semifinal Friday at Roland Garros. The first semi saw a 23rd-seeded Soderling upend 12th-seeded Chilean Fernando Gonzalez 6-3, 7-5, 5-7, 4-6, 6-4.
If the Swiss Federer can beat the Swedish Soderling on Sunday, he would become only the sixth man in history to win all four Grand Slam events and would tie Pete Sampras for the all-time men's record in Grand Slam titles, at 14.
After winning the first set in easy fashion, del Potro was going for a two-set lead in the second-set tiebreak against Federer, but a tight forehand into the net on the first point paved the way for Federer to roll in the extra session and level the match.
Del Potro, however, cruised through the third set by breaking Federer twice, including one that gave the 6-foot-6 Argentine a 5-2 cushion. He closed out the third with a hold.
"He came out of the blocks really strong with his serve and the way he was setting up his shots -- especially with his forehand -- which can miss sometimes but that wasn't the case today," Federer said.
In the fourth set, Federer got a key break to grab a 3-1 lead on his way to an easy set victory to force a fifth, as del Potro appeared to be tiring at this point.
Federer broke to open the final set and was leading 3-1 before del Potro mounted a bit of a comeback. The towering Argentine got a key break of his own to tie the stanza at 3-3, but Federer broke right back in the seventh game to grab the lead for good.
The Swiss held for a 5-3 cushion and then held again in the 10th game to reach the final here for a fourth consecutive year. The game del Potro saved a match point while serving at 3-5, but Federer closed him out on his second match point by swatting a forehand winner after 3 hours, 29 minutes of quality tennis.
"The longer the match went, I was always confident with my physical abilities and my mental abilities -- that I was going to be able to turn it around in a tough situation. I'm very happy to have made it (to the final) once again," said Federer.
Del Potro lost despite firing 11 more aces (16-5), recording five more winners (55-50) and tallying one more break (5-4). Unfortunately for the Argentine, he also committed five more double faults (6-1) and 11 more unforced errors (40-29).
"There was quite a bit of pressure. I also thought he had the upperhand through the baseline. He was serving better so he obviously deserved the lead," said Federer. "It was important to for me to stay with him through the second set and save myself into the breaker."
Federer is now 6-0 lifetime against del Potro, including a quarterfinal victory at the Aussie Open back in January and a second-round win at Wimbledon in 2007. The Swiss had never dropped a set against the Argentine before Friday (12-0).
The great Federer will appear in his 19th major final, going 13-5 in his previous 18. All five losses have come against his nemesis Rafael Nadal, including setbacks against the super Spaniard in the previous three French Open finals.
The 27-year-old Federer is the reigning five-time U.S. Open champion and lost to Nadal in this year's Australian Open and last year's Roland Garros and Wimbledon finals. On Friday, he performed in a record 20th straight Grand Slam semifinal.
Federer is 58-22 in his overall career finals, including a 1-1 record this year, with the title coming on red clay in Madrid, where he stunned Nadal in the championship match.
In Friday's opening semi, the big-hitting Soderling continued his Cinderella run in Paris by upsetting Gonzalez on Court Chatrier.
Playing in his first-ever major semi, Soderling became the first Swedish French Open finalist since his coach, Magnus Norman, turned the trick nine years ago. The last Swede to title here was three-time winner Mats Wilander in 1988, while the last Swede to win a major anywhere was Thomas Johansson at the 2002 Aussie Open.
"I have very far to go," Soderling said.
The world No. 25 Soderling's stunning run on the famed red clay here includes a shocking fourth-round victory over the four-time French Open champion Nadal here on Sunday and a straight-set quarterfinal spanking of 10th-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko on Tuesday. Nadal had been a perfect 31-0 lifetime here and was the heavy favorite to nail down a record fifth straight French Open championship.
Soderling appeared on his way to a straight-set victory on Friday after capturing the first two sets against "Gonzo" on Day 13 of the fortnight, but the gutsy Chilean fought back to win the third set, which he did with a big service break in the 12th game.
Gonzalez forced a fifth set by breaking Soderling, again, to claim the fourth stanza, and the Chilean jumped out to a seemingly-commanding 4-1 advantage in the fifth before his Swedish counterpart mounted a comeback of his own in the see-saw affair.
Soderling broke Gonzalez to pull within 3-4 in the final set, then held serve to level the bout and wound up winning the final five games to stun the Chilean strongman. Soderling broke Gonzalez for a 5-4 lead and then held serve to close out the match, which he did on his first match point with one final forehand winner.
The 6-foot-3 Soderling advanced in 3 hours, 28 minutes despite being out-aced (22-16) and committing 12 more unforced errors (45-33). The Swede, however, fired 15 more winners (74-59) and tallied one more service break (5-4) to dismiss Gonzalez.
"I did a good job of coming back," Gonzalez said. "But Soderling is playing at a really high level. He gets to every ball. I couldn't take him out of position."
Soderling is now 4-4 lifetime against Gonzalez, including 2-0 in Grand Slam affairs. The Swede also topped the Chilean at the 2004 U.S. Open. Gonzalez had been 2-0 in their previous clay-court matchups.
The former Australian Open runner-up Gonzalez fell to 1-1 in his career Grand Slam semifinals.
The 24-year-old Soderling's career French Open record prior to this year was 3-5, with his previous best showing being a third-round appearance here last year.
Soderling will appear in his ninth career final (3-5), with his last title coming in Lyon last season.
Federer and Soderling will meet for a 10th time, with Federer winning all nine of their previous encounters. Their only Grand Slam meeting resulted in a straight-set second-round victory for the Swiss last year at Wimbledon.
Sunday's winner will collect $1.485 million and become a first-time French Open champ.