Andy Murray set up a re-match with Roger Federer after both players got through their semi-finals in contrasting fashion.
Great Britain's Murray beat Serbian Novak Djokovic 7-5, 7-5, while Federer set an Olympic record for the longest ever match en route to his emotionally draining 3-6, 7-6, 19-17 win over Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina, which lasted a staggering four hours and 26 minutes.
Federer clung on and fought his way past the imposing Argentine and the Swim master was relieved to be still on course for his first individual gold medal. "Emotionally obviously I'm extremely drained from serving against a match so many times, basically being down in the score for the entire match except the one time where I served for it," Federer said.
"It was obviously nerve wracking. Obviously being aware, as well, it's the first medal for Switzerland during this Olympics, it was a big thing that carried me through.
"Just the level of play throughout was amazing, you know, especially from Juan Martin. I've never seen him play so well, to be honest, from start to finish, particularly on grass. He should be very proud of his performance.
"I felt very bad for him at net. It was an emotional hug we sort of gave each other. It's not over for him yet. I hope he can make the turnaround and play a good bronze medal match.
"I definitely got a sense that this was something special we were both going through, with Juan Martin. The deeper we went into the match, the more I thought, 'Wow, this is so cool to be part of a match like this', for me, yeah, it was somewhat equal to a Grand Slam final for sure.
"The emotions I felt were as strong as winning a Grand Slam almost. But of course you have to hopefully save some for Sunday so you can't go overly crazy. But I was very, very touched at the end."
Del Potro, who was in tears after the match and will now face Djokovic for the bronze medal, admitted the loss would be a hard pill to swallow. "To be honest, to lose a match like that hurts a lot.
"It's very hard to lose a match like that. "It was a very tough match. Someone has to win and today it was his turn; at the US Open it was my turn."
Murray kept Britain's dream alive for a gold medal with an assured performance against Djokovic. "I just wanted to try and win a medal, for the team, for the country and lastly for myself," Murray said. "I'm so happy; I would love to win the gold medal.
"Before the tournament started that was the goal, to try and win a medal. So to guarantee a medal is great and I'll go for it in the final.
"It's been an amazing month and one of the best of my career. The support that I have had over the last month, after Wimbledon, I really needed it.
"All the times that I have lost in a Grand Slam final I've had a tough time afterwards for a few months. But coming here with the motivation of playing in the Olympics and with the support that I have had has been all the motivation that I needed."
