Defiant Federer keeps his Paris dream alive

World number two Roger Federer kept his dream of a maiden French Open title alive when he battled past Argentine fifth seed Juan Martin del Potro 3-6 7-6 2-6 6-1 6-4 in a nail-biting semi-final yesterday.

The Swiss, playing in his 20th consecutive grand slam semi-final, was one set from defeat when he turned on the style to set up a final with Robin Soderling, who ushered out four times champion Rafael Nadal in the fourth round.

"I am a bit lucky but I fought," said Federer, who will equal Ivan Lendl's record of 19 grand slam final appearances tomorrow.

"I have an outstanding record against him (Soderling) but he played a fantastic match against Gonzalez," he added after the Swede earlier won in five sets against the Chilean.

"He (Soderling) has a lot of credit since he is the one who knocked out Rafa, who was the man to beat in this tournament," added the 13-times grand slam champion, who has beaten the Swede in all their nine previous encounters.

Soderling kept his wits about him in a heated 6-3 7-5 5-7 4-6 6-4 win over Gonzalez. The Swede withstood a fierce fightback from the 12th seed to march into his first grand slam final.

The match had been built up as the battle of the big forehands but the Chilean was left a breathless wreck during the first two sets as time and again he was left to chase Soderling's rasping winners.

Federer, looking to equal Pete Sampras's record of 14 grand slam titles, got off to a miserable start as Del Potro relied on his big serve and punishing forehand to dictate the play.

Backed by a 15,000 capacity Centre Court crowd, he prevailed after three hours 29 minutes on his second match point to book his place in a fourth consecutive final on the Paris clay.

The 20-year-old Argentine had never taken a set from Federer in five previous matches but he won his first in 38 minutes.

The Swiss forced a tiebreak in the second and that is when he showed glimpses of his brilliant best. He won the tiebreak 7-2 when Del Potro sent a forehand long, triggering a prolonged roar from the crowd.

It failed to unsettle the towering Argentine, who broke in the first game of the third set and continued to look comfortable on his service games to bag the set.

Federer then started to mix up his game and was rewarded for his tactical change when Del Potro dropped serve in the fourth game of the fourth set.

He broke again in the sixth game, following up on serve to send the contest into an unpredictable decider.

With his teeth now sinking firmly into his prey, Federer stole his opponent's serve in the first game of the fifth set as Del Potro's game continued to crumble.

The Argentine briefly regained his poise in time to break back for 3-3, only to drop serve again with a double fault.

Federer could sense victory and kept his composure.

Del Potro saved one match point on his own serve but was helpless on the second when Federer followed a big first serve with a forehand winner to end the match.