Federer comes back in another 5-set victory
NEW YORK — Given that Roger Federer entered Thursday with a 16-0 career record against his opponent, Mikhail Youzhny, and a 16-0 mark in the U.S. Open’s second round, one might have thought that their meeting at that stage in Flushing Meadows would have been no contest at all. Think again. Federer set aside an uncharacteristic 68 unforced errors and what appeared to be a bad back, managing to pull out his second five-set victory in a row at the U.S. Open by coming back to edge Youzhny 6-1, 6-7 (3), 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
It is the first time in his long career that the 36year-old Federer has played five-setters in both the first and second rounds at a Grand Slam tournament.
“These five-set battles are actually quite a lot of fun,” Federer said in his on-court interview in Arthur Ashe Stadium, “and I feel quite warmed up by now.”
In other action, topranked Rafael Nadal came back from a set and a break down to beat Japan’s Taro Daniel 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 and reach the third round.
The No. 3-seeded Federer won five consecutive U.S. Open championships from 2004-08 and also has been 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 time off paid obvious dividends: He is 37-3 with five titles in 2017, including his 18th Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January and 19th at Wimbledon in July. Federer did not lose any of the sets he played in seven matches at the All England Club.
Things have been rather different so far in New York.
Youzhny is a former top-10 player who reached the U.S. Open semifinals in 2006 and 2010, but he is now ranked 101st.
His level of play dipped considerably over the last two sets Thursday.
“I was feeling (badly) there for Mikhail,” Federer said.
Federer was not quite himself for much of the match, either. He appeared slowed by the back that he tweaked earlier in August and his strokes were off.
Meanwhile, it took Nadal a little while to figure out Daniel, who is ranked 120 spots lower and often plays on the lower-level Challenger tour. Daniel has never been past the second round at a major tournament.
Daniel was better in the opening set Thursday night and went ahead 2-1 in the second. But Nadal finally converted a break point on his sixth try of the match in the next game to get to 2-all and began to calibrate his big forehand better.
In other men’s highlights, Alexandr Dolgopolov pulled off a big win, beating 2010 Wimbledon runner-up Tomas Berdych 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (5), 6-2.
Also, No. 7 seed Grigor Dimitrov became the latest top-10 man to bow out of the U.S. Open, upset in the second round by 19-year-old Russian Andrey Rublev. The 53rdranked Rublev eliminated Dimitrov 7-5, 7-6 (3), 6-3 to reach the third round at a major tournament for the first time.
Longest women’s match: American Shelby Rogers beat 20th-ranked Daria Gavrilova 7-6 (6), 4-6, 7-6 (5) in 3 hours and 33 minutes, setting the record for the longest women’s match in U.S. Open history.
After Gavrilova’s backhand sailed long on match point, the 62nd-ranked Rogers raised her arms and then put her hands to her face and broke into tears. She said after the match that it didn’t feel like the longest ever at Flushing Meadows but that now she knows that, “I’m going to be sore.”
Rogers next faces No. 4-seeded Elina Svitolina.
Previously, the longest women’s match at the tournament was in the 2015 second round when Johanna Konta downed Garbine Muguruza 7-6 (4), 6-7 (4), 6-2 in 3:23.
Also on the women’s side, No. 1 Karolina Pliskova advanced to the third round by rallying for a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over former Stanford player Nicole Gibbs.
Japan’s Kurumi Nara eliminated 2004 U.S. Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to reach the third round, and American CoCo Vandeweghe posted a 7-6 (6), 6-2 victory over Ons Jabeur of Tunisia.