Federer scratches out five-set win
NEW YORK » A bad back prevented Roger Federer from getting ready for the U. S. Open the way he prefers to prepare for a Grand Slam tournament. And it’s showed so far.
Federer blamed a lack of proper practice after making an uncharacteristic 68 unforced errors and being forced to go five sets again before coming back to edge a cramping Mikhail Youzhny 1- 6, 7- 6 (3), 6- 4, 4- 6, 6-2 on Thursday in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
It is the first time in his long career that the 36-yearold Federer has played fivesetters in both the first and second rounds at a major tournament.
“I knew I was going to maybe struggle early on. Maybe I struggled more than I would have liked to. But I’m still in the draw, which gives me a chance. I still believe I’m going to pick up my game and become just more consistent because I’m not playing all that bad,” Federer said. “It’s just that I’m going a bit up and down in waves throughout the match.”
Federer did not drop a single set en route to his record eighth Wimbledon championship in July. And that he is 37-3 with five titles, including two at majors to raise his record total to 19.
Second on that list, with 15, is top- seeded Rafael Nadal, who beat Taro Daniel of Japan 4- 6, 6- 3, 6-2, 6-2.
What already was a wide-open women’s bracket became more so when 2004 U. S. Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova was upset by 116th-ranked Kurumi Nara of Japan 6-3, 3- 6, 6-3. The No. 8-seeded Kuznetsova’s exit means five of the top eight women are already gone. The No. 3-seeded Federer won five consecutive U. S. Open championships from 2004- 08 and also was the runner- up twice, including two years ago. But he missed last year’s tournament while taking off the second half of the season to let his back and surgically repaired left knee fully heal.
That back, an off-and-on issue for years, flared up again while Federer was losing in the final of the Montreal Masters in August. He didn’t get to fully work on returns or serves, in particular, as the U. S. Open approached. That lack of training and the resulting lack of timing — rather than pain from his back — is what Federer said caused him problems Tuesday night in the first round against 19-year- old American Frances Tiafoe and again against Youzhny.
• American Shelby Rogers beat Daria Gavrilova 7- 6 (6), 4- 6, 7- 6 (5) in three hours and 33 minutes, setting the record for the longest women’s match in U.S. Open history.