For the second time in five matches, Roger Federer made a great escape to keep his hopes alive for Grand Slam title No. 21 at the Australian Open.
In the third round, Federer fought back from an 8-4 deficit in the final-set tiebreaker to beat John Millman 4-6, 7-6, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(8). Four days later, his second comeback was even more improbable. Federer saved an incredible seven match points before overcoming Tennys Sandgren 6-3, 2-6, 2-6, 7-6(8), 6-3 during quarterfinal action on Tuesday afternoon.
The 38-year-old Swiss survived three match points–all thanks to Sandgren errors in the net–while serving at 4-5 in the fourth. Three more in a row came and went for the 100th-ranked American starting at 6-3 in the ensuing tiebreaker. Sandgren struck two errors and then watched Federer come up with a swinging forehand volley winner to reach 6-6. A seventh opportunity for Sandgren evaporated at 7-6 with a netted slice backhand at the end of an extended rally.
Four points later, the set concluded in appropriate fashion when the 28-year-old sent an overhead sailing past the baseline.
With Federer struggling due to a groin issue and Sandgren all but finished mentally, the fifth set was never going to be one for the video archives. And it wasn’t. But the world No. 3 came up with enough goods at 3-2 for what proved to be a decisive break. From there he coasted the rest of the way on serve and mercifully crossed the finish line after three hours and 31 minutes.
“I believe in miracles,” Federer told Jim Courier during the post-match interview, explaining why he never took a medical timeout for his groin.
“You hope sometimes you can solve things with a medical timeout, but that was not really the case. Of course, it was already that third set was halfway gone anyhow, so it was just a matter of coming to terms with what do I have (and) what don’t I have in my game. I figured in the fourth set somehow things could go quickly or maybe I’ll hang around for a bit, eventually he’ll get the break, because he was playing very well. Yeah, so for the most time there I thought that was it. Of course, there’s little sparkles where maybe not…then you’re like, ‘No, it is over.’
“Only maybe when I won that fourth set did I really think that maybe this whole thing could turn around.”
“He played them well,” Sandgren said of the match points. “I could have played them better. I’ve run through them a bunch of times. He was aggressive on one, passive on a few, came in on one…. It just seemed like his level picked up when his back was right up against the wall. He just wouldn’t give me anything. Credit to him, for sure.”
[crowdsignal poll=10497608]
I didn’t get to see the whole match. So Roger never took a medical timeout? That’s kind of strange, because he was clearly ailing for much of the match. I know his philosophy is not to show weakness on court, but it seems a bit much not to get medical assistance when you really need it.
My guess is that Roger won’t play the SF unless he thinks he can win it. If he walks out on court on Thursday, it means that Paganini has worked some magic and Fed is able to compete near his best level. If so, I think he will have his chances.
He took a 10 minute mto n left the court to massage the groin
Nole in 3. I’d be very surprised if Fed can take more than a set.
Miracle win for GOAT….and he’ll beat Joker….in 4.