Federer reached his fifth straight final. FROM THE US OPEN –
Roger Federer hasn't looked this good in a year and if he continues to
display the form that he did in dunking Novak Djokovic 6-3, 5-7, 7-5,
6-2 in the semifinals on Saturday, he'll have a very good chance to
grab his fifth straight crown. He'll face either Rafael Nadal or Andy
Murray, whose match was suspended until Sunday due to Hurricane Hannah
with the Briton somewhat shockingly holding a 6-2, 7-6, 2-3 lead. (The
Spaniard was up a break in the third.)
With the exception of throwing away the second set with a shaky final
game, Federer was brilliant everywhere: he hit each spot in the service
box, volleyed adeptly, established his forehand from the outset, returned
reasonably well and perhaps more importantly, rediscovered his flat and
topspin backhand, which disallowed Djokovic from continually going to
that wing.
"I had moments out there where I really felt: This is how I normally
play on hardcourt," he said. "Half volleys, passing shots,
good serving, putting the pressure on, playing with the wind, using
it to my advantage. I definitely had moments during today where I thought, "This
is how I would like to play every time." So it was very nice to
get that feeling back."
He broke Djokovic to 6-5 in the third set with heavy backhand crosscourt
pass and then won the set with a crosscourt backhand drop shot winner.
"I think I broke his will as well when I got the third set,”
Federer said. "I think he let his head hang a little bit. "
The he threw the hammer down on the same guy who has upset him in the
Australian Open semifinal, breaking him to 3-2 when the Serbian’s
inside out forehand clipped the top of the cord and went wide. He then
broke him again to 5-2 when Djokovic pushed a backhand volley wide. The
Swiss held at love to win the match, as for all the pushing that the Serbian
did, he couldn't match his level deep in points.
"I felt like I was in control of how the points were constructed,"
Federer said. " I felt very smooth, great coordination. I think that's
also very important, that you hit, the ball smoothly, not that many miss-hits
and stuff. Even though in the wind it's always going to happen. But I
definitely felt for a while out there like that's how I want to feel.
I definitely had that feeling out there today, which I had quite often
in the past.
Federer's serving performance was worthy of world-class conductor. Andy
Roddick took Djokovic’s racket out of his hands on numerous occasions
with pure heat, but the Serbian was able to slap back a number of missiles
deep and work his way into points. He was unable to do that often enough
against Federer.
"It's important to have variation and to be able to hit all four
corners on the court," Federer said. "That's what great servers
do. Then of course it's important to choose the right ones when you have
to. I think my serve got me out of trouble a few times today. Novak is
a different caliber of return player, so I always expect more balls to
come back from him. You expect him to return me even more easily, because
I don't have the power that Andy has. But I got maybe a little bit more
variety. I can sort of hide my serve better, so it's harder for him to
read. And that doesn't give him the confidence from the baseline."
Djokovic was none too pleased with his performance and why should he be?
He was authoritative enough in about 40 percent of the points, but he
failed to grind Federer down and that was the key to his potential victory.
Djokovic admitted that the mental toll that Robredo/Roddick/Hostile Crowd
controversy over his injuries and bold on court statement took a major
toll on him.
“I think he deserved to win, absolutely. I was just a little disappointed
from my side that physically I wasn't able enough to give him a challenge.
I think I played well that second set, and, you know, was on serve in
that third one. Then I was just unlucky to lose that third set and then
more or less routine in the fourth for him.
Overall it's been a very exhausting tournament mentally and physically
for me, so I'm happy that I got to the semi. This is life Not always everything
comes in your favor. You have to deal with it in the best possible way.
I tried to focus myself and get all the strength that is left for me.
I knew that this third set was really crucial. If it went my way, I could
have the bigger chance to get the victory, but unfortunately didn't.”
A few quick notes on Murray-Nadal: if the Spaniard doesn’t step
closer to the baseline and being to play more offensively, he’s
going to be out of the tournament. The Scot has been dictating with
his serve, first groundstrokes and volleys while Nadal is hitting way
too short and competing from the back court. The match, which moved
to Louis Armstrong Stadium, will be moved back to Ashe Stadium on Sunday
and will being at 4 pm EST. The women’s final is scheduled for
9 PM EST and the men's final is slated for Monday at 5 p.m. The
USTA is discussing building a roof on Ashe Stadium.
