Top Tweets: The Nadal vs. Del Potro Rio showdown

He came, he buzz-sawed a lot of fierce forehands, and he conquered. When it was over, Juan Martin del Potro had polished off a fantastically played, wonderfully dramatic semifinal match at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. His foe on this day was Rafael Nadal, already a men's doubles gold medalist in Rio, albeit one who spent a lot of hours on court—19 in one week, to be exact. (And that was the stat even before this semifinal bout was over.)

Make no mistake, del Potro deserved every ounce of joy and adoration he bathed in upon completing his 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (5) takedown of Nadal. The wrist injuries between these two would've felled lesser men, sent them packing forever from such a sport that demands so much, gives and takes so much from the players on its stage. Lest I rhapsodize further, let's come up for air, shall we, and salute the grand match that was with—what else?—a sampling of the best words and photos, GIFs and videos, that Twitter could muster during this match.

After the two titans of tennis traded sets, they found themselves at 6 games all in the decider. As Olympic tennis' sometimes-wacky rules dictate, it was time for a first-to-7 tiebreak to call a winner. Cue Kelsey Anderson, expert blogger and ATP tall-tree Kevin Anderson's wife, and one Andrea Petkovic:

Fans were reminded, and certainly against their will, of previous heartbreak—or one in a series of many visceral cracks—that The Forehand Mauler Forever Known as Delpo has suffered.

Indubitably, 'twas time to pray to the tennis gods. "Lord of the Strings, please just let these two wrist-y gladiators finish."

And yet. Many began to consider just where this Rio semifinal match, among all the routs and bouts played out this year to date, might stand among the best.

They didn't have to wonder long. In terms of level of play, clashing styles, and worthy dramatics, no disappointment ensued. And del Potro seized his chance to play for gold, weathering the storm as Rafa sprayed a forehand wide.

Del Potro was promptly assailed afterward in most loving fashion by a bevy of Argentines courtside:

At the same time, spare a thought for the ailing Nadal, who wouldn't have shown his stubbled face in Rio but for his love, similar to that Venus Williams harbors, for the Olympics. (Even so, as Sports Illustrated's Jon Wertheim is fond of saying, "If you're fit, you play, and if you play, you're fit." It's not as if ranking points or title defense was on the line here.)

What a tribute to Delpo's fight, as he has proven to be an iceman in final-set tiebreaks. Indeed, the iceman came.

Some observers waxed wistful for the days of Nadal's scintillating rivalry with Roger Federer. Even so, this day belonged to Delpo.

Del Potro will face off against Andy Murray, a winner in all of 79 minutes against Kei Nishikori in the earlier, relatively snooze-inducing semifinal, for gold on August 14. The defending Olympic champ will take on the perennial fan favorite, himself the bronze medalist in London four short years ago. It will be a best-of-five-sets affairs, but we've seen it already this week in Brazil:

Anything can happen.

Follow Jon on Twitter @jonscott9.