TWO DAY MATCHES IN ASHE GO THE DISTANCE, INCLUDING A SECOND STRAIGHT FIVE-SETTER FOR FEDERER

Written by: Staff on 31st August 2017

TWO DAY MATCHES IN ASHE GO THE DISTANCE, INCLUDING A SECOND STRAIGHT FIVE-SETTER FOR FEDERER

epa06175302 Roger Federer of Switzerland hits a return to Mikhail Youzhny of Russia on the fourth day of the US Open Tennis Championships at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, 31 August 2017. The US Open runs through September 10. EPA-EFE/RAY STUBBLEBINE |

Two day matches in Ashe go the distance, including a second straight five-setter for Federer

By Ricky Dimon

A five-setter worked out well for Roger Federer in his first-rounder against Frances Tiafoe on Tuesday night. Why not mess with success? Perhaps that’s what he thought heading into a second-round date with Mikhail Youzhny on Thursday afternoon.

Needing five sets yet again to get the job done, Federer prevailed over Youzhny 6-3, 6-7(3), 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. The 36-year-old sprayed 68 unforced errors but also fired 63 winners to Youzhny’s 27 en route to setting up a Saturday showdown against Feliciano Lopez.

You didn’t even have to be in Arthur Ashe Stadium or looking at a scoreboard to follow the progress of Federer’s match. That could be based entirely on crowd noise. From Louis Armstrong Stadium (where Dominic Thiem was playing Taylor Fritz at the same time), for example, Ashe could be heard with ease.

At the start, a consistent buzz: clearly Federer was in fine form.

The next hour or two, dead silence: without question Youzhny was taking control.

After that, more noise–even louder than at first: surely Federer was getting back on track in a crucial part of the match.

Finally, eruption: Federer must have won.

And win he did, but not before another major scare and not without plenty of questions regarding the status of his back. Unsurprisingly, the 19-time Grand Slam champion scoffed at such a notion.

“Good,” Federer said when asked about it. “I’m better than the first round, so I’m happy. Yeah, this match wasn’t about the back–which is good. This is more just a grind. I felt different, completely different, the way it played and everything. But I’m really, really happy I got through.”

Karolina Pliskova also got through during an unexpectedly dramatic afternoon session on the main court. Pliskova required a final set, as well, overcoming American underdog Nicole Gibbs 2-6, 6-3, 6-4. Amazingly, the No. 1 seed was out-winnered (if that term is allowed!) by Gibbs (32 to 29) but managed to survive after one hour and 46 minutes.

“Her level was quite high in the beginning of the match,” Pliskova said of Gibbs. “I quite didn’t expect that she’s going to play this way. I thought, like, since we played two times, we practiced, saw few of her matches, she’s going to [do] more defending. She really was going for her shots. All credit to her.”

“I’m obviously disappointed with the outcome today, but I do like the trend that it seems the more I’m on court with players in the Top 10 at the top of the game,” Gibbs explained. “I’m pushing them deeper and deeper into matches. You know, it used to be that I was losing kind of straight sets, not so close, every time I came up against a top player, and now I feel like I’m consistently kind of knocking on the door.”

Kind of like Federer’s opponents: close but no cigar.