World number two Roger Federer [Images] kept his dream of a maiden French Open [Images] 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 on Friday.

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 Swede Robin Soderling [Images], who ushered out four times champion Rafael Nadal [Images] in the fourth round.

Federer, looking to equal Pete Sampras's [Images] 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 with a forehand winner to book his place in a fourth consecutive final on the Paris clay.