Roger Federer moves on at U.S. Open
TENNIS
The four-time defending champion advances with a 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 win over Brazilian qualifier Thiago Alves.
NEW YORK -- Roger Federer who, after all, remains the four-time defending U.S. Open champion even if nobody much notices, advanced to the third round today and rushed the net often to do so.
In playing his second straight opponent with a triple-digit world ranking, Federer altered tactics somewhat, approaching 42 times and converting 24 of those points in a 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 win over Brazilian qualifier Thiago Alves.
So Federer won a 29th consecutive match at Flushing Meadows -- plus a walkover in the fourth round in 2004 -- and experimented a bit with a fresh tack he might need should he face Novak Djokovic in the semifinals or Rafael Nadal in the final.
"I was struggling to see the ball at the net a little bit with the crowd in the back," Federer said after 46 unforced errors. "He did well to scramble back, you know, quite a few balls. But I wasn't comfortable at the net from the start, you know. It just made it hard, you know . . .
"I was never really in danger, so it was actually pretty good for me."
Having won at least two of the four grand-slam tournaments in the previous four years -- and three in three of them -- Federer has gone without so far in 2008, with tennis fans and observers adapting to the difference even though he has reached two Grand slam finals and one semifinal.
Thus far at the U.S. Open, where his four straight titles represent the longest streak since Bill Tilden won six between 1920 and 1925, Federer has breezed through players ranked No. 118 (Maximo Gonzalez) and No. 137 (Alves), eight months after a bout with mononucleosis cost him 20 days of practice time.
"I was so tired after Beijing coming here, and then of course I'm a bit worried," he said. "But then I look back, maybe two years back, prior to Wimbledon I couldn't move for a week. I was still able to win Wimbledon after that. Once the tournament gets underway you find the energy somewhere . . . Maybe I put it down as sickness when I still feel a little bit slow sometimes. These are the moments when I might think, you know, this is maybe lack of practice still a little bit."
