Juan Martin Del Potro soaked up the adulation of his supporters and said he deserved to beat Roger Federer in a US Open quarter-final, booking a Friday semi- final showdown with top-ranked Rafael Nadal.
Argentine 28th seed Del Potro defeated the 19-time Grand Slam champion 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (10/8), 6-4 in Arthur Ashe Stadium, a court where Federer has dominated rivals from more than a decade.
"I think it's my home court too," Del Potro told the crowd. "You make me feel happy every time when I play here and I love your support."
Del Potro said he hopes to repeat his 2009 victory over Nadal ahead of his epic five-set victory over Federer to capture his only Grand Slam title. "Against Rafa, hopefully I can repeat the result," Del Potro said. "I know against Rafa the crowd will be tough for me but I hope you are cheering for me again. He's number one in the world, but with this amazing support anything can happen."
Federer praised Del Potro, saying, "Juan Martin fought like a lion."
"I feel like the way I'm playing right now it's not good enough to win this tournament. It's better I'm out and somebody else gets a chance to win."
Del Potro, who has undergone four wrist surgeries since beating Federer eight years ago in the final, rescued four set points in the third set tie-breaker. "I think I got lucky," Del Potro said. "I made a double fault in the 6-all and that cannot happen against Federer, but I got lucky. I made the good returns and in the fourth set I played even better. "I cannot believe to play another semi-final after all my injuries."
As for the four squandered set points in the tie-breaker, Federer said, "I don't think those four points made all the difference. I missed too many balls. He came up with the goods and I helped him sometimes maybe."