Federer overcomes early errors to maintain fine run

Published on 06/09/2009 23:08

ROGER Federer continued his quest for a sixth consecutive title with a four-set victory over tenacious former champion Lleyton Hewitt.

In a rematch of their 2004 final at Arthur Ashe Stadium, when Federer landed the first of his titles, it took four sets to defeat the 2001 winner, although the world No1 had to come from a set down on Saturday before dispatching the 31st seed and fellow 28-year-old 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-3.

It was Federer's 37th consecutive win in the final grand slam of the year and he had gone into the match having recorded 13 straight victories over Hewitt in their total of 23 matches played, leading the series 15-8.

"I guess it's really the details," Federer said when asked why he and Hewitt had always proven to be a competitive match-up. "This match was close, it could have gone either way. Today was windy, which made it quite hard, but I thought because he had the good start he maybe just believed much more in today's match than in maybe other ones he's played against me.

"The way I came through I was very happy because I knew that being a set down against Lleyton is always going to be a difficult situation.

"Make one more mistake and I'm in the fifth set or I go down completely so I was relieved coming through."

Federer had begun the match sluggishly having broken the Australian early in the first set. Hewitt broke back to 4-3 as the champion's forehand let him down and then held for 4-4.

The ninth game saw Hewitt continue his winning streak with a decisive break of serve after another shaky game from Federer, the Australian contributing just one winner as his rival committed six errors.

It did not last long as Federer roared back into contention, taking the second set and drawing level with a huge roar as Hewitt failed to return his serve.

With the score at 4-4 in the third, Federer lost his footing as he came into mid-court to play a backhand and ended up on his knees. He quickly bounced back up and took the third and fourth sets with relative ease.

Having progressed to the fourth round, Federer will face Spain's Tommy Robredo, the No14 seed who beat American fans' favourite James Blake, seeded 21, in straight sets, 7-6 (7/2), 6-4, 6-4.

MEN'S SINGLES

3rd rd: (1) Roger Federer (Swi) bt (31) Lleyton Hewitt (Aus) 4-6 6-3 7-5 6-4, (14) Tommy Robredo (Spa) bt (21) James Blake (USA) 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 6-4, (12) Robin Soderling (Swe) bt (22) Sam Querrey (USA) 6-2 7-5 6-7 (6-8) 6-1, (8) Nikolay Davydenko (Rus) bt Marco Chiudinelli (Swi) 6-4 7-5 7-5, (4) Novak Djokovic (Ser) bt Jesse Witten (USA) 6-7 (2-7) 6-3 7-6 (7-2) 6-4, (15) Radek Stepanek (Cze) bt (23) Philipp Kohlschreiber (Ger) 4-6 6-2 6-3 6-3, (10) Fernando Verdasco (Spa) bt (20) Tommy Haas (Ger) 3-6 7-5 7-6 (10-8) 1-6 6-4, John Isner (USA) bt (5) Andy Roddick (USA) 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 3-6 5-7 7-6 (7-5).

WOMEN'S SINGLES

3rd rd: Petra Kvitova (Cze) bt (1) Dinara Safina (Rus) 6-4 2-6 7-6 (7-5), Yanina Wickmayer (Bel) bt Sara Errani (Ita) 6-3 6-4, Kateryna Bondarenko (Ukr) bt Anastasia Rodionova (Aus) 7-6 (7-4) 6-4, Gisela Dulko (Arg) bt Yaroslava Shvedova (Kaz) 6-3 6-4, Melanie Oudin (USA) bt (29) Maria Sharapova (Rus) 3-6 6-4 7-5, (13) Nadia Petrova (Rus) bt (21) Jie Zheng (Chn) 6-4 6-1, (9) Caroline Wozniacki (Den) bt (24) Sorana-Mihaela Cirstea (Rom) 6-3 6-2, (6) Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus) bt Shahar Peer (Isr) 7-5 6-1.

4th rd: (2) Serena Williams (USA) bt (22) Daniela Hantuchova (Svk) 6-2 6-0