Federer advances
NEW YORK – Roger Federer was scuffling against a Spanish lefty at the U.S. Open on Monday night. He lost the first set to Feliciano Lopez, barely won the second, then trailed love-40 to start the third.
And then Federer did the sort of remarkable thing that only Federer does: He won the next 35 points he served. That allowed him to take control of the third set and the match, coming back to win 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-4 in the fourth round at Flushing Meadows.
Asked about that 35-point run, Lopez rolled his eyes and said, “I mean, it’s tough. I’m playing against Roger Federer.” His voice then trailed off, as if that should be explanation enough.
Federer’s response when told of the stat: “That’s awesome.”
Next up for the No. 1-ranked Federer, bidding to become the first man to win four consecutive U.S. Open titles since the 1920s: a quarterfinal against No. 5 Andy Roddick, the 2003 champion and the runner-up last year.
Federer is 13-1 against Roddick.
“It’s a great record, but it doesn’t help me,” Federer said. “We’ll see how it goes. Andy’s always tough at the U.S. Open.”
With No. 6 James Blake losing to No. 10 Tommy Haas in five sets earlier Monday, Roddick is the only American man left – making this the first U.S. Open since 1998 without at least two in the quarterfinals.
Roddick was leading 7-6 (6), 2-0 when his fourth-round opponent, No. 9 Tomas Berdych, stopped playing because he had trouble breathing.
So two of Roddick’s four foes have quit on him. And both of Roddick’s matches that were completed, against men ranked 475th and 68th, were over in three sets.
Now things get a lot more daunting.
Like Lopez, Blake had his chances against Haas. Seven times, Blake was two points away from victory. Three times, he was a point away.
Blake failed to convert all three of those match points, then played about as poorly as he did all day in the final-set tiebreaker and lost to Haas 4-6, 6-4, 3-6, 6-0, 7-6 (4).
“I was a little indecisive at the end there,” said Blake, who was 0-9 in five-setters until finally winning one in the second round last week.
The match ended oddly, with a raucous, pro-Blake crowd hushed during instant-replay challenges on each of the final two points. While waiting for the final replay – which showed that Haas’ 113 mph ace was, indeed, in – the players smiled sheepishly at each other and approached the net for a handshake they knew was coming.
In a schedule change , Open officials shifted the women’s quarterfinal between six-time major champion Venus Williams and No. 3 Jelena Jankovic from today to Wednesday night.