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Federer, Murray advance to fourth round at U.S. Open

 
Roger Federer advances to the fourth round of the U.S. Open with a straight-sets win over Philipp Kohlschreiber. The match is Federer’s longest at this year’s tournament, lasting a little more than 11/2 hours.
Roger Federer advances to the fourth round of the U.S. Open with a straight-sets win over Philipp Kohlschreiber. The match is Federer’s longest at this year’s tournament, lasting a little more than 11/2 hours.
Published Sept. 6, 2015

NEW YORK — Roger Federer might not be so keen to try out his old-dog-new-trick, rush-the-net "SABR" — "sneak attack by Roger" — return strategy against his next opponent at the U.S. Open.

"I can always try," Federer said. "But it's probably not the right guy to do it against."

That's because the second-seeded Federer, who advanced Saturday by beating 29th-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 6-4, 6-4, will have to deal with 6-foot-10 American John Isner and his massive serve in the fourth round.

"The idea is not to use it very much against a player like that," Federer said about his innovative and risky approach to attacking second serves, racing forward as the ball arrives to pluck it off the ground with what amounts to a half-volley. "I need to make sure I protect my own serve first."

Joining Federer in the fourth round was No. 3 Andy Murray, who had little trouble beating No. 30 Thomaz Bellucci 6-3, 6-2, 7-5.

Federer, while dropping a total of 20 games and zero sets through three matches, has been broken only twice — both times by Kohlschreiber.

After moving on when Jiri Vesely retired because of a neck injury after dropping the first two sets, Isner, seeded 13th, was asked about the possibility of dealing with Federer's newfangled return Monday.

"I haven't thought about that too much, actually," said Isner, who is 1-4 against Federer, including losses at the 2007 U.S. Open and, most recently, the 2012 Olympics.

Vesely was the 16th player — 14 men, two women — to stop during a match at this year's U.S. Open because of injury or illness, a record for a major tournament in the Open era, which began in 1968.

Isner is one of two American men left. Donald Young, ranked 68th, 22nd-seeded Viktor Troicki 4-6, 0-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2, 6-4. Young had never won a match after losing the first two sets until Tuesday, when he did it against 11th-seeded Gilles Simon in the first round.

"It was 90 percent you guys," Young told the partisan spectators, "10 percent me."

Three major champions in the women's draw won: No. 5 Petra Kvitova, No. 20 Victoria Azarenka and No. 22 Sam Stosur. No. 2 Simona Halep, the 2014 French Open runnerup, beat qualifier Shelby Rogers of the United States 6-2, 6-3 to open the night session.

Federer's match against Kohlschreiber was his longest of the week. It lasted a tad more than 11/2 hours.

During it, Federer opted to try his new return a couple of times, once sailing the shot long, another winning the point when the ball clipped the top of the net and trickled over.

Color Kohlschreiber unimpressed: "(Federer is) attacking, of course, but I didn't see so many special things."

Nadal ousted in unprecedented upset

For the first time in his career, Rafael Nadal lost a Grand Slam match after taking a two-set lead.

And for the first time since 2004, he will end a season without winning at least one Grand Slam title.

"The only thing it means," Nadal said about that streak coming to a close, "is I played amazing the last 10 years."

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Once so seemingly invincible, able to run down every last ball and tough to slow once out in front, Nadal was beaten 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 by 32nd-seeded Fabio Fognini of Italy in the third round of the U.S. Open in match that ended at 1:30 a.m. Saturday.

Nadal is now 151-1 in Grand Slam matches in which he wins the first two sets.

"To win like that — against him, from two sets down — is something incredible," Fognini said, calling it a "mental victory."

The eighth-seeded Nadal's defeat follows exits in the quarterfinals at the Australian Open and the French Open, and in the second round at Wimbledon. He said he must "accept that (it) was not my year."

The 29-year-old Spaniard also has spoken openly about a crisis of confidence. "What I (am) doing worse is playing worse than what I used to do the last couple of years," he said. "That's it."

Nadal, who has won two of his 14 career major titles at the U.S. Open, not only claimed the first two sets against Fognini, but also led by a break in the third at 3-1.

He couldn't sustain it, though, as Fognini began taking more high-risk shots and putting plenty right where he wanted them, winding up with more than twice as many winners as Nadal, 70 to 30.

"An incredible match, for sure," Fognini said. "We killed ourselves."