Australian sends Federer packing
Roger Federer served poorly. Closed poorly, too. And now he’s gone, beaten at the US Open by an opponent ranked outside the top 50 for the first time in his career.
Looking slow and tired on a sweltering night in New York, Federer doublefaulted 10 times, failed to convert a trio of set points and lost 3-6 7-5 7-6 (7) 7-6 (3) in the fourth round to Australian John Millman.
It’s only the second time in Federer’s past 14 appearances at the US Open that he’s lost before the quarterfinals. He is, after all, a five-time champion at the tournament, part of his men’s-record haul of 20 Grand Slam titles.
So much for that muchanticipated matchup between Federer and 13-time major champion Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals. Instead, it’ll be the 55th-ranked Millman, who had never made it past the third round at a Slam until last week, taking on Djokovic.
Millman was adamant he would not be intimidated by Federer, and perhaps was helped by having spent time practising together a few months ago.
Still, this was a stunner. Not simply because Federer lost but how he lost. Start with this: Federer held two set points while serving for the second at 5-4, 40-15 and did not pull through; he had a set point in the third at 6-5 in the tiebreaker, but again was stymied.
In the fourth set, he went up a break at 4-2, yelling ‘‘Come on!’’ and getting all of those rowdy spectators in their ‘‘RF’’ gear on their feet, prompting the chair umpire to repeatedly plead for silence. But Federer uncharacteristically got broken right back with a sloppy game, most egregiously when he slapped what should have been an easy putaway into the net.
And then there was his serve.
In the final tiebreaker, he double-faulted twice in a row.
The first obvious signs of trouble for Federer came far earlier, in the second game of the second set. He started that 15-minute struggle by missing 18 of his initial 20 first serves. While he eventually held there, he needed to save seven break points along the way. It was clear that the 37-year-old Federer was not at his best.
Carla Suarez Navarro (at the expense of Maria Sharapova), Maidson Keys, Noami Osaka and Lesia Tsurenko completed the women’s quarterfinal lineup, while Djokovic, Kei Nishikori and Marin Cilic all advanced to the last eight of the men’s singles.