Woods and his wife sat between Federer’s girlfriend and his agent. It’s interesting to note who wasn’t in that section: Federer’s coach, Tony Roche, who prepares his pupil for this event but doesn’t travel to it.

Roddick’s new adviser — they’re avoiding the word “coach” — is none other than five-time Open champion Jimmy Connors, of course. Connors chewed on his fingers when Roddick was having a hard time, and rocked back giddily after his charge’s nice shots.

“He played like a man tonight, win, lose or draw,” Connors said. “I’m so encouraged by the kid. I’m proud of him.”

Connors has rebuilt Roddick’s confidence and revamped his game, but Federer was able to come up with all of the answers, particularly in the tensest moments.

Critical tests of will and nerve came early in the third set: Federer faced four break points but saved them all to hold for a 3-2 lead, and Roddick then successfully dealt with five break points in the very next game to make it 3-all.

“We were pretty much fighting tooth and nail,” Roddick said.

But then, serving to take that set to a tiebreaker, Roddick faltered. Or better, Federer flourished, using two backhand return winners to break serve. Federer let out a scream of “Yes!” — about the only ounce of emotion he showed until falling to his back at the very end.

Overall, Federer broke six times; Roddick lost his serve a total of five times in the tournament’s first six rounds combined.

Federer was beyond brilliant at the start, using a mix of well-spun aces, curling passing shots, crisp volleys and reflex returns of Roddick’s serves topping 135 mph.

When Federer hit his fourth ace at 131 mph to cap that opening five-game run, Roddick bowed his head and shook it.

“You don’t want to get embarrassed out there, that’s for sure,” Roddick would say later.

Shortly thereafter, the first set was done. Federer hit a cross-court backhand passing shot that dipped as though attached to a string, and then he broke for the third time by getting back a 142 mph serve with a return so tough Roddick meekly slapped a forehand into the net.

And then, suddenly, Roddick got back into the match, breaking Federer at love to open the second set and running to the sideline with an uppercut and a yell.

The book on Roddick has been that his game is limited to two power strokes, his serve and his forehand. But in the past couple of months with Connors, the repertoire has expanded, and Roddick held his own in the second set and most of the third.

Slide show   Week in Sports Pictures Pain on the skating rink, flying high on the hardwood, upsets on the football field, and more. more photos

On one point, Roddick reached for a half-volley to extend the exchange, and then, with both players at the net, hit a reflex volley winner.

After speaking about the changes to his own game, Roddick was asked about whether Federer is better than when he beat Roddick in the 2004 and 2005 Wimbledon finals.

“He’s improving as well,” Roddick said, “which is scary.”

MORE FROM TENNIS

Tennis Section Front

del Potro wins 1st match at ATP Finals USTA tax forms show ex-CEO paid $9.15M in 2008 Interactive: Creating the perfect tennis player ATP, WTA scores, schedules MORE ON TENNIS Latest tennis videos   Tennis Section Front   Add Tennis headlines to your news reader: