Federer of old rouses from Open slumber

ROGER Federer returned to his hard-to-beat best yesterday in his US Open win over Feliciano Lopez with a performance so unlike the pair of uncomfortable five-setters he laboured through to begin the tournament.

Federer’s back looked just fine, his movement precise, his strokes absolutely on-point in a straightforward 6-3, 6-3, 7-5 third-round victory over 31st-seeded Lopez that lasted one hour and 46 minutes under the roof at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

The No.3-seeded Federer was guilty of 16 unforced errors, which is significant when viewed through the prism provided by his matches last week.

He averaged 62 errors in each of those outings, against 19-year-old American Frances Tiafoe and 35-year-old Russian Mikhail Youzhny.

That was the first time in Federer’s career he had opened a grand slam tournament with two consecutive matches that lasted five sets.

Federer was broken eight times in total in those matches, but only once against Lopez.

Next will come a match against 33rd seed Philipp Kohlschreiber, who beat Aussie John Millman 7-5, 6-2, 6-4.

Looming further down the road is a possible semi-final against No.1 Rafael Nadal.

They have never met at the US Open.

Nadal figured things out in the second set and all but strolled the rest of the way to beat Leonardo Mayer of Argentina 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 and move into the fourth round.

Millman has turned his attention to doubles and adding to the biggest payday of his career.

The Queenslander can look forward to a cheque for at least $US166,500 ($210,000) for his run to the third round at Flushing Meadows for the first time.

The 28-year-old will also soar some 60 places in the rankings to around 180th in the world as he continues his comeback from groin surgery.

Millman had no complaints after falling to the world No.37 Kohlschreiber.

Millman caused the upset of the first round, taking out Nick Kyrgios, and then won in straight sets over Tunisian Malek Jaziri in Round 2.