Roger Federer made his way into tennis history books on Friday, beating Dutch Robin Haase to reach the semi-finals of the Rotterdam Open.
He, however, earned the needed points to topple Rafael Nadal as the tennis world number one, becoming the oldest man, at 36, to reach tennis zenith.
Haase almost stopped Federer from attaining the historic goal, taking the first set 6-4, but the Swiss ace, rallied back ruthlessly to take the next two sets, 6-1, 6-1.
The last time Federer reached the pinnacle of tennis was in 2012 as he was number one from 2004.
Andre Agassi who used to be oldest number one at 33 in 2003 was the first to congratulate Federer on Friday.
Agassi said “Roger Federer continues to raise the bar in our sport. Congratulations on yet another remarkable achievement”
Ascending to the top spot at the age of 36 is yet another record to Federer’s vast collection
Fresh from winning his 20th grand slam title in Melbourne this month, Federer took a wildcard into the ABN AMRO World Tennis event with his eyes fixed on a return to number one for the first time since November 2012.
Federer will officially be crowned number one Monday when the ATP-Emirate ranking is announced.
