Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic Advance To Olympic Semifinals

The top two players in the world right now, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, secured their place in the semifinals on Thursday.

Federer beat American John Isner 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) in his quest to add the only accomplishment missing from his resume, Olympic singles gold medalist. Isner put up a fight, but per usual could not mount enough of an attack in his return games. Federer has never made it to the semifinals before; he lost in the quarterfinals to another American, James Blake, at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and in the second round in 2004. Fed will take on Argentina’s Juan Martin Del Potro who topped Kei Nishikori of Japan 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) in his quarterfinal.

On the other side of the draw Novak Djokovic defeated France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-1, 7-5 to set up a semifinal showdown against Andy Murray. Tsonga got an early break in the second set and got out to a 3-0 lead, but Djokovic quickly broke back to tie the set at three games apiece before putting it away. Surprisingly, Djokovic and Murray have never faced off on a grass court in their careers. Murray is still looking for his first Grand Slam and while the Olympics are not a slam, winning gold at Wimbledon could do wonders to set him on the right track.