What were the chances that all three of just four former US Open champions in this year’s draw would sit in the bottom half come Round 3? Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Juan Martin del Potro.
Or that the first lucky loser to make it to the third round at the US Open in almost a decade was also in this half? Leonardo Mayer—who, it so happened, won his only title this year as a lucky loser, in Hamburg.
Or that a man who had lost in the first round of 10 tournaments this year would confound the rankings and beat No15 seed Tomas Berdych on his way to the fourth round? Alexandr Dolgopolov.
Or that the man who squeezed into the reckonings at the last gasp, a rare No33 seed, should not only make his allotted place in the third round but make it to the fourth round? Philipp Kohlschreiber.
Or that Kohlschreiber was one of four single-handed backhands among the eight left in the bottom quarter, and that, if Federer beat his third-round opponent, Feliciano Lopez, it would set uphis third match in a row against a fellow single-hander?
Federer had won his 17th match for no losses against Mikhail Youzhny in Round 2, had never lost to Lopez in 12 matches and… yes, it was the same against Kohlschreiber, not a single loss in 11 previous matches.
To add to the coincidences in this small section of the draw, all those one-handers were well over 30—as, incidentally, was the one-hander in the other quarter, Mayer—and two of them vied for the record of most consecutive Majors played in the Open era. Federer’s run of 65 was halted when he withdrew from the 2016 French Open following knee surgery. Lopez was up to 63 and counting.
One thing that was not a surprise was the presence of Nadal and Federer in the third round. Both had missed long stretches of 2016 to heal major injuries. But come 2017, and the reinvigorated and rested former No1s and US Open champions were back to cut a swathe through the season with all three Majors plus four Masters titles.
The result was that Federer, who began 2017 ranked No17, arrived here seeded No3 and challenging to regain the No1 ranking for the first time in almost five years. And Nadal, who started the year at No9, was top dog for the first time in over three years.
Yet their progress in New York had been far from seamless. Nadal dropped his opening set against No121 ranked Taro Daniel, and having never dropped a set, or even faced a tie-break, against that lucky loser Mayer, Nadal lost the first set again.
As for Federer, he came in with truncated preparation after a recurrent back problem hit him during the Montreal final, and the rust—and perhaps a still-stiff back—saw him struggle unexpectedly against teen star Frances Tiafoe and then Youzhny. Never before had Federer played two five-setters in the opening two rounds of a Major. He survived.
Nadal, in characteristically pugnacious style, came back from his wayward opening set, 6-7(3) in which he failed to convert six break chances. That set took over an hour: the second set would do the same, even though it comprised four fewer games. He overcame two break points in the fourth game, and pressed Mayer mercilessly in the fifth—a 12-minute-plus game of seven deuces and three break points—but could not break. No matter: he succeeded in the 10-minute plus seventh game, though he took five bites of the cherry to do so.
That done, the familiar pumping, strutting Nadal entered the match, and he took the set, 6-3.
It is a frequent pattern: Nadal’s opponents throw everything at him in the early stages, sometimes succeed, but then cannot lives with the physicality and will to win of this supreme athlete. Nadal broke immediately in the third set, broke again and served it out, 6-1, in just 27 minutes. The fourth set began in similar style: an immediate break, another for 5-2, but Mayer rallied to break back, and Nadal took two attempts to serve it out, 6-4, after 3hrs 14mins.
Well that was just the day session, so it would be 9.30 before the night session began. And this too was played under the Arthur Ashe roof as the rain hammered down—perhaps Federer’s favourite environment. But could Lopez upset the applecart at his 13th attempt? He had after all won his biggest title after many attempts this summer at Queen’s Club—and he knew Federer’s form was uncertain.
However the Federer who came onto court this time was sharper, quicker and on top of things quickly. He opened with a love hold, broke in the sixth game, held to love again, and served out the first set in 25 minutes, despite deafening noise from the roof and 130mph+ serving from Lopez.
At the change of ends, the crowds who had been kept waiting for almost three hours outside Arthur Ashe, were ready to party—helped not a little by the music. The players did their part, serving up some blistering rallies. Lopez upped his serving level, and had two break points in the fourth game, but was denied by a net-cord winner. Instead, Federer got the break in the seventh.
The Swiss was pressed hard again in the eighth game, faced 15-40 after a sizzling return of serve from the Spaniard, but finally served two big deliveries to hold, and attacked the Lopez serve to break for the set, 6-3.
It had taken an hour, but the third set would be longer and tighter. Lopez threw in some serve and volleys—indeed between them, the two men did so 30 times. On the third break point, though, he double faulted for 1-3, only to break straight back.
The set stayed in the balance to 5-5, but with Federer serving first, Lopez was constantly under pressure, and he buckled under the attack from the Swiss to concede break, set and match, 7-5, after an hour and three quarters. Federer had made just 16 unforced errors for 32 winners.
This was a far more convincing performance from the five-time champion, more free-flowing and more confident. And just as Youzhny and Lopez failed to score their first win against the Swiss, it now looks unlikely that Kohlschrieber’s 11 losses will not become 12 on Monday.
The third US Open champion, del Potro, whose recurrent wrist injuries and surgery had such a long-term impact on his early promise, has learned to pace himself in order to try and manage his physical problems. He has, indeed, missed 10 Majors since that victory here in 2009, but in his four subsequent appearances in New York, he has reached the quarters twice.
He certainly impressed in beating No11 seed Roberto Bautista Agut, 6-3, 6-3, 6-4, this third straight-sets win, this week.
He next faces 23-year-old Dominic Thiem, seed No6, who beat No30 seed, Adrian Mannarino, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4.