Custom Search
2 months ago 06th Sep 15:14
Federer was pushed to four sets in yesterday’s opening match on the Arthur Ashe Stadium by former world number one Lleyton Hewitt as Andy Roddick became the first of the big names to fall.
Defending Champion Federer looked out of sorts in the first round as Lleyton Hewitt turned back the years to play some inspired tennis.
Despite breaking the Hewitt serve in the sixth game his advantage was quickly erased as the Aussie hit back with a break of his own in the next match.
Federer was pressured in his next service game as Hewitt had three break points, after saving two the world number one surrendered to give Hewitt the first set.
It was Federer that struck first in the second set when he broke Hewitt in the fourth game, he went on to hold his own service game to cement his advantage. As he wrapped up the second set to level the match.
Into the third set and Federer seemed to have found his rhythm, but Hewitt continued to battle hard pushing Federer at every turn, as he took the lead in the match for the very first time.
The defending champion took a commanding 5-2 lead in the fourth set and needed just one more game for victory. But Hewitt once again dug deep to break Federer before hanging onto his own serve to close the gap to 5-4.
But Federer secured the win in the next game to wrap up the match, in which he produced fifty nine unforced errors, to win 4-6 6-3 7-5 6-4.
After the match Federer spoke to the BBC saying: “It could have gone either way. He had a good start and he believed maybe more today than in some of the other ones he played against me.
"The way I came through, I was very happy, because I knew that being down a set against Lleyton is always going to be a difficult situation for me to be in.”
Federer will now face Spain’s Tommy Robredo as he beat James Blake in straight sets 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 6-4.
Novak Djokovic was also pushed to four sets in his match against American Jesse Witten, the surprise package in the men’s draw.
Despite being 272 ranking places between the pair Witten took the match to the world number four and was driven on by the support of the crowd.
Djokovic struggled in the New York heat as the form that had seen him yet to drop a set disappeared. But Witten took full advantage ass he pushed the first set to a tie-break before taking the lead.
But Novak battled back in another tight set to level the match and he was expected to cruise to victory. But Witten had other ideas as he once gain pushed Djokovic to a tie-break in the third, as he missed his chance to take the third set.
But the tie-break was all about Djokovic as his experience began to show. After three and a half hours on court he eventually sealed the win 6-7 (2-7) 6-3 7-6 (7-2) 6-4.
But the big shock of the day came in the night match as Wimbledon finalist Andy Roddick fell to compatriot John Isner, becoming the first of the top ten seeds to crash out of the competition.
Isner opened up a two sets to love lead over the former champion before Roddick began to fight back in the third.
Roddick broke his opponent in the eighth game as he kept his hopes of progressing to the next round alive before going on to seal the set.
The fourth set was just as tight as it continued to go with serve but at 5-5 Roddick took his chance to break before levelling at two sets a piece.
Into the fifth and final set as they both failed to make inroads on each other serve, going into the second tie-break of the night.
And it was Isner who struck first to open up a mini break and was soon facing three match points. Roddick pulled it back to 6-5 with two aces but a netted forehand gave Isner the win 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 3-6 5-7 7-6 (7-5).
Readers' Comments
Be the first to comment!