Federer makes history as tennis oldest Number One

Roger Federer smashed his way into tennis history books on Friday, beating Dutch Robin Haase to reach the semi-finals of the Rotterdam Open.

More significant, he 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.

Federer on Monday will officially become number one when the ATP-Emirate ranking is announced.