Federer finally in a final!

For the first time this year, Roger Federer has made the finals of a tournament. And on clay no less! To get there however the tennis world's superstar had to dig deep to come from a set behind in his semifinals match at the Estoril Open in Portugal.

The windy conditions played havoc on Federer's shots allowing his opponent, the 104th-ranked German Denis Gremelmayr to break the Swiss' serve twice in the opening set to easily clinch it at 6-2.

But to the relief of many in the crowd--and surely the tournament organizers--the top seed found his form in the second set and immediately broke Gemelmayr's serve in the second game. Federer appeared to be cruising toward leveling the match at one set all when a brief lapse in concentration gave Gremelmayr another a chance to break back and equalize at 5-5. After salvaging his next service game, Federer piled the pressure on Gremelmayr who was serving to go into a tiebreak. Luckily for Federer, Gremelmayr crumbled to surrender the second set to love.

Thereafter, Federer was troubled no more as he raced to a 5-0 lead in the deciding set. Gremelmayr just managed to hold serve once to force Federer to serve for the match which he did so with an emphatic 6-1 score.

Playing in Estoril for the first time in many years, Federer also came back from a set behind in his first round match against Olivier Rochus 4-6 6-3 6-2. His next two matches came more easily as he defeated both Victor Hanescu of Romania and local tennis star Frederico Gil in straight sets. This despite having to play through stubborn rain showers in the second round and enduring rain interruptions in the third round.

Federer now faces world number four Nikolay Davydenko of Russia who defeated Fernando Serra in the other semifinals match in straight sets and is currently on a winning streak after winning his second Masters Series shield in Miami.

A victory in the finals here would give Federer his very first title in 2008. Go Roger!
Photo credit: Francisco Leong/AFP/etty Images