Federer’s quest for gold survives epic semifinal

“It has been a long time coming,” he said.

The wait included an Olympic marathon Friday, when the top-seeded Federer played for four hours, 26 minutes to beat Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina 3-6, 7-6 (5), 19-17. It was the longest three-set men’s match of the Open era.

“I definitely got a sense that it was something special,” Federer said. “The deeper we went into the match, the more I thought, ‘Wow, this is so cool to be part of a match like this.’ “

Federer converted only two of 13 break-point chances, the second coming in the next-to-last game, and had several nervous moments. But he held serve 12 times in the final set to stay in the match.

With the comeback victory, the four-time Olympian from Switzerland is assured at least a silver. On Sunday he’ll play in the final against No. 3 Andy Murray of Britain, who beat No. 2 Novak Djokovic of Serbia 7-5, 7-5.

Federer and Swiss teammate Stanislas Wawrinka won the gold in doubles in 2008. But Federer had been 0-for-3 in Olympic singles, the biggest blemish on a resume that includes a record 17 Grand Slam championships.

His latest title came at Wimbledon a month ago against Murray, who relishes the shot at a rematch on the same court.

“I hope it’s a great match,” Murray said, “because the way the matches went today, I think the tournament deserves a great final.”

Serena Williams of the United States also clinched her first Olympic singles medal, beating top-seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, 6-1, 6-2. Today the No. 4-seeded Williams faces first-time Olympian Maria Sharapova, who beat Russian teammate Maria Kirilenko 6-2, 6-3.

Williams teamed with sister Venus to win the gold in doubles in 2000 and 2008. They have a chance to clinch at least a silver in the semifinals today.

Federer improved to 12-0 this summer at the All England Club, including a record-tying seventh Wimbledon title.

There were no match points until the final game. After a couple of wobbly moments by Federer, including a double fault, he sealed the victory when Del Potro dumped a backhand in the net.

Federer lifted his arms in jubilation, then leaned wearily on the net while awaiting congratulations from the big Argentine. They shared a warm embrace.

Del Potro will play Djokovic for the bronze Sunday.

Americans Bob and Mike Bryan are assured at least a silver after beating Julien Benneteau and Richard Gasquet of France 6-4, 6-4 in the semifinals of men’s doubles. Mike Bryan and Lisa Raymond advanced to the first Olympics mixed doubles final since 1924 by beating Del Potro and Gisela Dulko 6-2, 7-5.

TRACK AND FIELD

British heptathlete Jessica Ennis gave the delirious crowd at Olympic Stadium exactly what it was hoping to see on the first day of track and field.

Ennis finished the 100-meter hurdles in 12.54 seconds, the fastest time ever in the heptathlon’s first event

Poland’s Tomasz Majewski (men’s shot put) and Ethiopia’s Tirunesh Dibaba (women’s 10,000 meters) won the first gold medals of the meet. World champion Carmelita Jeter of the U.S. led the 100-meter heats with a time of 10.83 seconds.

BOXING

A few hours after the U.S. men’s team thought it was done, amateur boxing’s governing body decided Errol Spence deserved to fight on.

AIBA overturned Spence’s loss to Indian welterweight Krishan Vikas, hours after the defense-minded Vikas had apparently clutched and grabbed his way to a 13-11 victory.

After the American team protested, AIBA reviewed the bout and ruled Vikas had committed nine holding fouls in the third round alone. He also intentionally spit out his mouthpiece in the second round, which should have resulted in at least four points of deductions.

Spence advanced to the quarterfinals to face Russia’s Andrey Zamkovoy on Tuesday. If he wins, the American men’s team will avoid leaving the Olympics with no medals for the first time.

Three Americans are alive in the women’s tournament.

SOCCER

Abby Wambach scored her fourth goal of the tournament in the 27th minute and celebrated with a cartwheel in the Americans’ 2-0 win over New Zealand in the women’s quarterfinals.

Sydney Leroux scored in the 87th minute for the two-time defending Olympic champion Americans, who will play Canada on Monday. Canada beat Britain, 2-0. France will face Japan in the other semifinal.

BASKETBALL

Diana Taurasi scored 18 points, and Tina Charles had 16 points and 14 rebounds to lead the U.S. women’s team to its 37th consecutive Olympic win, 88-61 over the Czech Republic.

Liz Cambage dunked in Australia’s 70-66 victory over Russia, and Croatia, Canada, Turkey and France also won.

BEACH VOLLEYBALL

Defending gold medalists Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser of the United States were knocked out by Italy.

Rogers and Dalhausser lost the first set 21-17 and fell behind Paolo Nicolai and Danielle Lupo 12-7 in the second. The Americans tied it 19-19 but lost the final two points and were eliminated when Rogers’ spike was blocked back into him by the 6-foot-8-inch Nicolai.

Jennifer Kessy and April Ross of the U.S. beat Switzerland’s Simone Kuhn and Nadine Zumkehr to advance to the women’s quarterfinals.

VOLLEYBALL

Destinee Hooker scored 19 points and the U.S. women’s team clinched the top spot in its pool with a preliminary-round victory over Serbia.

Logan Tom added 12 points in the 25-17, 25-20, 25-16 sweep. The U.S. will wrap up the preliminary round with a match against Turkey on Sunday.

WATER POLO

Maggie Steffens scored three goals and the U.S. women’s team beat China 7-6 in its final preliminary-stage game.

The U.S. finished the preliminary round even with Spain at the top Group A with five points. But Spain earned the top spot because of the tiebreaker, and the Americans will play 2012 European champion Italy in Sunday’s quarterfinals.

CYCLING

Britain’s Victoria Pendleton washed away the disappointment of her disqualification in the team sprint by winning the gold medal in the keirin with a flawless performance.

ROWING

Five-time world champion Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand won the men’s single sculls, completing the resume of one of the sport’s leading names.

TRAMPOLINE

China’s Dong Dong took the gold in the men’s competition, putting together a dizzying series of flips and twists. Dmitry Ushakov of Russia was second, and 2008 Olympic champion Lu Chunlong of China third.

DIVING

Wu Minxia and He Zi of China led the prelims of women’s 3-meter springboard, another dominant performance by the country that captured the first four diving golds in London.

Minxia surged ahead with a brilliant final dive, a back 2½ somersault in the pike position.

SAILING

Britain’s Ben Ainslie won the 10th race in the Finn regatta to set up a dramatic showdown in his quest to become the most successful sailor in Olympic history.

He pulled within two points of Denmark’s Jonas Hoegh-Christensen, who has led the Finn fleet since Race 1 and angered Ainslie on Thursday with a claim that the British star hit a turning mark.