Federer Fends Off Old Foe; Verdasco Edges Haas

© Getty ImagesRoger Federer won his 14th straight match against Lleyton Hewitt.

For the first time since January 2004 Lleyton Hewitt won the first set against Roger Federer, but it was not enough for the Australian to avoid a 14th straight defeat at the hands of the World No. 1 as Federer hit back to triumph 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 in the third round of the US Open Saturday in New York.

“This match was close,” admitted Federer. “It could have gone either way. 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. Make one more mistake and I'm in the fifth set maybe, or I go down completely. So I was relieved coming through.”

Victory for Federer not only sees him reach the fourth round at the US Open for the ninth straight year, but also ensures he will stay at No. 1 in the South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings following the final major of the year – fighting off competition from the No. 2-ranked Andy Murray.

Federer and Hewitt, both 28, were meeting for the 24th time in a rivalry dating back to Lyon in 1999, when Hewitt won in three sets. However, after winning eight of their first 10 clashes, Hewitt had fallen victim to Federer in their past 13 meetings, winning just three sets.

Despite the record though, the Australian demonstrated his famed tenacity in the first set as he capitalised on an uncharacteristic 23 unforced errors from Federer to rally from a 2-4 deficit and claim the first set – the first time in 13 meetings he had drawn first blood against the Swiss.

Federer was quick to stem Hewitt’s momentum though, working hard to rein in his errors and breaking the Australian to love to earn a 3-1 lead. A tighter performance from the Swiss saw him go on to close out the set, saving one break point in the process, and level the match.

While Federer played below par for much of the early stages of the match, the 15-time Grand Slam champion showed his mettle by saving his best tennis for the big points and denied Hewitt on 11 of 14 break points throughout, most notably at the beginning of the third set when the Sydney resident had four opportunities to gain an early advantage. Strong serving from Federer alleviated the threat and Hewitt was made to pay the price as the Swiss raised his level at the closing stage of the set to break Hewitt in the 11th game before taking a two-set-to-one lead with his best tennis of the match.

Federer was quick to seize the initiative in the fourth set, breaking Hewitt twice to race to a 5-1 lead. Hewitt rallied briefly to earn one of the breaks back as Federer served for the match at 5-2, taking advantage of loose errors that crept back into the Swiss’ game, but Federer did not falter at the second time of asking and sealed victory after two hours and 33 minutes.

Afterwards, Hewitt was quick to pinpoint Federer’s ability to produce his best tennis on the big points as being one of the deciding factors in their match ups: “You've got to try and take those small opportunities when they come. You're going to get some out there but you're not going to get a lot, obviously. Today at one-set-all, I had breakpoints to go 3-1 up and breakpoints to go 2-0 up, and he came up with big serves at the right time. That's why he's No. 1.”

New father Federer is looking to further push the boundaries of Grand Slam success in 2009. The right-hander has already completed the career Grand Slam at Roland Garros (d. Soderling) and won a record-breaking 15th major title at Wimbledon (d. Roddick) and is now bidding to become the first man since Bill Tilden in 1925 to win a sixth straight US Open title.

Spanish 14th seed Tommy Robredo advanced to the US Open fourth round for the fifth time in six years with a 7-6(2), 6-4, 6-4 win over James Blake in a match that finished just minutes before 1 a.m. Robredo has been to the last 16 at Flushing Meadows six times in total, but is yet to reach the quarter-finals. And his passage to this year’s quarters won’t be easy; he next faces Federer.

Spaniard Fernando Verdasco drew on all his improved fitness levels to battle past rejuvenated German Tommy Haas 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(8), 1-6, 6-4 in a gripping third-round clash on Louis Armstrong Stadium. The 10th seed trailed 0-2 in the deciding set before fighting back to prevail after three hours and 44 minutes.

DEUCE: Third Time Lucky For Haas

The 25-year-old Verdasco’s fitness work with Andre Agassi’s former trainer, Gil Reyes, in Las Vegas also paid dividends at the start of the year, when he defeated World No. 4 Andy Murray and No. 7 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga en route to his first major semi-final at the Australian Open – which he lost in a fifth set to eventual champion Nadal.

The left-hander came into the US Open with the confidence of having won his first hard-court title at Pilot Pen Tennis last week, defeating Olympus US Open Series winner Sam Querrey in the final. He reached his first hard-court final at the start of the year in Brisbane, finishing runner-up to Radek Stepanek.

Verdasco, who had fallen in the US Open third round the past three years, said: "I'm in fourth round again... I'm so happy. I am feeling good. I know that every round is getting more difficult normally because you play normally more rounds with better players."