In the clay-court season, del Potro was eliminated in the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters by Ivan Ljubičić. In Rome, del Potro beat Victor Troicki and Wawrinka to advance to the quarterfinals, where he was defeated by defending champion Djokovic in straight sets. This meant del Potro's head-to-head record with the Serb was now 0–3. Del Potro then played at the 2009 Madrid Masters. After defeating Murray for the first time in the quarterfinals, he lost to Federer in the semifinals. At the French Open, where he was fifth seed, del Potro defeated Michaël Llodra, Troicki, Andreev, and ninth seed Tsonga en route to the quarterfinals. He then defeated three-time former quarterfinalist Tommy Robredo to get to his first semifinal of a Grand Slam. He was defeated in a close semifinal, where he was leading by a set twice, by eventual champion Federer who, after their match, said: "Potro is young and strong, I have a lot of respect for him." Prior to this encounter, del Potro had never taken a set from Federer in their five previous career meetings.