Federer hits his stride but Nadal is ‘under stress’
ROGER FEDERER and Rafael Nadal are two wins away from a first meeting at the US Open, with the Swiss looking more likely to keep the appointment than the Spaniard. After struggling in his first two matches, Federer resembled his imperious self as he ominously brushed aside Spain’s Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-3, 7-5. ‘I needed to get over the fear of the back issue, especially in that first match,’ said the Wimbledon champion, who battled a back problem last month but is four victories away from a third Grand Slam title of the year at age 36. ‘Then I think the wobble I had in the second round was due to my preparation. Now I’m just trusting my movement better. My serve is there. My mind is there. I can finally focus on playing tennis and not so much about the past.’ Federer faces Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber in the last 16 and the Swiss, who has won all of his 11 matches against the German No 3, added: ‘I know Philipp very well, practised with him a ton, had some good matches against him in the past.’ Before Federer got under way in the night session, his great rival made heavy weather of things on the Arthur Ashe court. Nadal missed his first 13 break points before overcoming Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer 6-7, 6-3, 6-1, 6-4. ‘Of course, you are under stress when you see that you have opportunities almost in every game, and you are not able to convert them,’ said the 31-year-old. ‘At the beginning you get nerves when you don’t convert opportunities.’ Once he broke to lead 3-2 in the second set, Nadal appeared to be free of his early nerves. The world No 1 will get another test tonight when he takes on the unorthodox Ukrainian Alex Dolgopolov.