A five-setter worked out pretty well for Roger Federer in his U.S. Open first-rounder against Frances Tiafoe on Tuesday night. So well, in fact, that he seemed to decide playing another one would be not such a bad idea.
It remains to be seen how 10 sets of tennis affects Federer the rest of the way, but for now the aforementioned idea has not been detrimental. Federer endured five more sets on Thursday night but managed to overcome Mikhail Youzhny 6-3, 6-7(3), 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 in a surprisingly competitive second-round affair. Perhaps plagued by a lingering back injury, Federer sent 68 unforced errors flying out of the court but also struck 63 winners to Youzhny’s 29.
In the end, it was a battle of which grizzled veteran would be the last one standing. Federer, 36, appeared to favor his back from sets two through five. Youzhny, 35, suffered from a leg cramp throughout the fifth. Federer, though, denied any physical problem.
“Good,” he said when asked about his back. “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.
“I might feel more tired than I normally would going into a third round, but that’s okay. My preparation hasn’t been good at all here. 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. It’s just that I’m going a bit up and down in waves throughout the match. Now I can just look forward to play tennis. With a bit of fatigue, that’s okay. I’ve done that hundreds of times. That’s not something I’m too concerned about.”
Federer-Youzhny top five plays:
Fatigue was a factor in other second-round matches, too. In fact, in the span of less than two hours, three five-setters were on display: Federer vs. Youzhny, Gael Monfils vs. Donald Young, and David Goffin vs. Guido Pella.
Monfils won a roller-coaster ride against Young 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-4, 2-6, 7-5. A wild fifth set saw Young twice battle back from a break down, but Monfils delivered a clutch hold out of nowhere at 4-5 to stay alive. The Frenchman soon broke for 6-5 and delivered another routine hold to put himself across the finish line. Goffin also came within one game of defeat, as he scraped past Pella 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-7(2), 7-6(4), 6-3.
[polldaddy poll=9820975]
[polldaddy poll=9820977]
Leave a Reply