Federer and Nadal forced to do it the hard way

AMONG the quirks of the Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal rivalry is that they have never played each other at the US Open. If it is ever going to happen then it may have to be in this year’s semi-final. They remain on course, although neither has looked convincing so far. Not long after Federer had taken a torturous five sets to beat Mikhail Youzhny and make the third round, Nadal laboured through 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 against Japan’s Taro Daniel, a player who spends most of his time on the Challenger circuit. It could yet be that the winner of this title comes from the wide-open bottom half of the draw, which is going to throw up a finalist that would never have been predicted a month ago. After beating Daniel, Nadal said: ‘I hit around 40 winners, that’s not a bad number. But 35 unforced errors, that’s a bad number for me. I need to fix that. I need to play with the feeling that when I’m hitting the ball, I’m not going to miss.’ This is the first time at the US Open that Federer, who struggled with a back injury in the build-up to the event, has been taken to five sets in both of his first two matches. ‘I might feel more tired than I normally would going into a third round, but that’s OK,’ said the 36-year-old nonchalantly. ‘My preparation hasn’t been good at all here. I knew I was going to maybe struggle early on. A bit of fatigue, that’s OK. I’ve done that hundreds of times.’