Federer survives scare, Rafa ruthless

NEW YORK, August 31
World No. 3 Roger Federer survived a first-round scare from Frances Tiafoe before grinding out a 4-6 6-2 6-1 1-6 6-4 victory over the American teenager in front of a raucous crowd at the US Open on Tuesday. Federer looked more relieved than overjoyed when Tiafoe’s forehand found the net on match point to keep his hopes of a 20th Grand Slam title alive.
“We had a good fight,” Federer said in an on-court interview. “It was exciting and this is why I came to New York, to go through these emotions,” he said with a laugh.
The 19-year-old Tiafoe broke Federer in the first game of the match and bellowed out a loud “Come on!” when his forehand winner found the line to capture the opening set. Federer soon found his groove once he broke Tiafoe to take a 3-1 lead in the second set and reeled off nine of the next 10 games.
However, his poor form returned in a 23-minute fourth set when his serve and the accuracy of his trusty one-handed backhand completely deserted him. Federer said Tiafoe could go on to have a big career. “He is a great player and has a bright future,” Federer said.
Despite coming away with the win, the shaky performance raises questions about the health of the 36-year-old Swiss, who sat out the Cincinnati Masters earlier this month with back pain.
He acknowledged that he was worried about his back going into the match but said he felt “much, much better”.
“This win will give me a lot of confidence,” he said.
Nadal turns up the heat
World No. 1 Rafa Nadal dismissed Dusan Lajovic 7-6 (6) 6-2 6-2 to ease into the second round. “Today I won. That’s the most important thing for me,” Nadal said.
After a sluggish run-up to the US Open that included a shock Round of 16 loss to Canadian teenager Denis Shapovalov in Montreal and another to Australian Nick Kyrgios in the Cincinnati quarterfinals, Nadal needed a few games to find his range against the 85th-ranked Serb.
The 21-year-old, chasing a first US Open win, showed no sign of nerves, using his stylish groundstrokes to grab the early break on the way to 4-2 lead. But a steely Nadal found his comfort zone, breaking back at 5-5 to force the opener to a tiebreak that he took 8-6.
A ruthless Nadal delivered the young Serb another tennis lesson, breaking his opponent at the first opportunity in the second and third sets to improve his record in first round US Open matches to 13-0. “Tough beginning of the match,” said Nadal.
“The important thing is to win because it is normal that you have some nerves at the beginning and you get a little bit tight at the beginning of the tournament.”