Federer breezes into 3rd; Nadal’s return a win
Top seed wins 36th straight Open match; Safin loses in final Slam
 Darron Cummings / AP Roger Federer returns a shot to Simon Greul during the second round of the U.S. Open on Tuesday. |
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U.S. Open |
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NEW YORK - Roger Federer’s winning streak at the U.S. Open is up to 36 matches. He’ll try for No. 37 against a familiar foe.
The top-seeded Federer moved into the third round at Flushing Meadows by beating 65th-ranked Simon Greul of Germany 6-3, 7-5, 7-5 Wednesday night before a night-session record crowd of 24,206.
“I thought, with a little bit of luck, I could win one set,” Greul said. “But it didn’t happen. He was playing too well.”
Next up for Federer: a match against 2001 U.S. Open champion Lleyton Hewitt. The 31st-seeded Hewitt beat Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 in the second round.
Federer has won 13 consecutive matches against the formerly top-ranked Hewitt, including victories over the Australian in the 2004 final and 2005 semifinals at Flushing Meadows.
“I’m intrigued about this matchup. It’s an incredible run for me against him. I cannot believe I’ve beaten him that many times in a row,” Federer said. “But we had some close ones during those 13. Everyone starts from zero, unfortunately for me now. I hope I can win again.”
Federer is trying to become the first man since Bill Tilden in the 1920s to win the American Grand Slam tournament six years in a row.
The Swiss star — owner of a record 15 Grand Slam singles titles overall — hasn’t lost at the U.S. Open since a fourth-round setback against David Nalbandian in 2003.
“But on any given day, a former world No. 1, a guy who’s won majors, is very, very dangerous,” Federer said, looking ahead to playing Hewitt. “That’s why I have to make sure I get into the match quickly, not give him the lead, because we know he’s not going to go down without a fight. He’s physically almost as tough as anyone out there.”
As for Federer's rival, Rafael Nadal, everyone’s been curious about the condition of his knees, so it made sense that his first Grand Slam opponent in three months would wonder as well.
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A moment later, as if conspiring with Nadal to show everyone how fit the six-time major champion truly is these days, Gasquet offered up another drop shot.
Nadal got to that one, too.
Starting a bid to win the only Grand Slam title missing from his resume, Nadal encountered no apparent trouble from his much-scrutinized legs in a 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 victory over Gasquet at Flushing Meadows.
Gasquet, for one, was impressed.
“He can win the tournament,” said Gasquet, a 2007 Wimbledon semifinalist and former top-10 player. “Day after day, he will improve his level. For sure, he can win.”
Nadal’s matter-of-fact assessment: “I played well, no?”
One could certainly make the case he wasn’t facing the toughest competition. Gasquet has been away from the tour, too, recently. He served a 2½-month ban after testing positive for cocaine; Gasquet successfully appealed what would have been a far more severe punishment, saying the drug entered his system inadvertently when he kissed a woman at a nightclub.
Nadal’s absence was far more run-of-the-mill. He hadn’t played at a major tournament since May 31, when his 31-match French Open winning streak ended in the fourth round at Roland Garros. The Spaniard cited knee tendinitis in deciding not to defend his Wimbledon title, and the layoff was a big reason Nadal has dropped from No. 1 in the rankings to No. 3.
Nadal didn’t wear any tape near his knees Wednesday, something he’s done in the past, much less the sort of bulky bandages Venus Williams showed up with for her second-round match.
Nadal never mentioned his knee issues publicly until after the French Open, but he said Wednesday the pain dated to April, when he won the Monte Carlo Masters. He also won the next week, and the week after that, but he now attributes that success to “being on a roll.”
The recent time off means he has played a lot less than he’s accustomed to by this time in the season, which is a benefit at the last Grand Slam event of the year. He’s never been past the semifinals in New York.
“I am more fresh, yeah. Fresher than ever in this tournament. I don’t know if this kind of fresh is good,” he said. “No excuses about being very tired.”
Still, Nadal finds it amusing that there has been so much discussion about his knees and his time away from the tour.
“Seems like I was two years outside of competition,” he said. “It was two months.”
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The 29-year-old Safin, the 2000 U.S. Open champion, lost to Jurgen Melzer of Austria 1-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4; the 36-year-old Santoro, appearing in his record 69th major tournament, was beaten by No. 24 Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain 6-4, 6-3, 6-3.
Safin won two Grand Slam titles and briefly was ranked No. 1. There are those — including Melzer, after Wednesday’s match — who wonder aloud whether Safin’s talent could have taken him to a half-dozen major championships or more.
One person who doesn’t worry about that? Safin.
“I don’t regret anything at all. Things that happened to me throughout the life, whatever I said, whatever I did — it took me to where I am right now,” Safin said. “So I think it was pretty nice ride.”
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