Federer not perfect, but good enough to defeat Hewitt in 3rd round at US Open

Federer slips but doesn’t fall against Hewitt

NEW YORK — It was an ungainly sight, Roger Federer skidding and falling to the ground, helpless on the court.

The spill lasted only a moment, though, and despite that and a few other scares Saturday, the world’s top player advanced to the fourth round of the U.S. Open.

Federer defeated No. 31 Lleyton Hewitt 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 to extend his winning streak to 37 matches at Flushing Meadows — and 14 straight over his Aussie rival, the 2001 U.S. Open champion.

Perfect it was not.

Federer was serving, ahead 4-2 and 40-love in the first set, when he proceeded to spray shots all over the court at Arthur Ashe Stadium, losing five straight points on the way toward dropping the first set. He committed 23 unforced errors in the first.

“I just had to believe that I could still turn this around,” Federer said. “And with the great streak I have against him, I knew that if I could get back into the match then I could get back on a roll, because I’ve done it so many times against him.”

Yet even when he looked to be cruising to the victory in the closing set, up 5-2 and getting ready to serve out the match, he got broken. All that did was extend the match a few more minutes, though it did nothing to quash the notion that Federer was not at the top of his game on this day.

“You know how good he can play when he’s on and you try to take advantage of those small opportunities when they come,” Hewitt said. “You’re not going to get a lot, obviously.”

Hewitt did have four break points in the third set, but couldn’t convert any.

Hewitt, a two-time major winner, won eight of the first 10 meetings in his series against Federer. But that was years ago, before Federer started winning Grand Slam tournaments with regularity, and before Hewitt started enduring hip problems that dropped him out of the top 100 before his more recent resurgence.

Federer is trying to become the first player to win six straight titles in New York since Bill Tilden in the 1920s. His next match will come against the winner of between American James Blake and Tommy Robredo of Spain, who play later Saturday.

In other matches Saturday, 15th-seeded Radek Stepanek defeated 23rd-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber, eighth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko defeated Marco Chiudinelli and No. 4 Novak Djokovic ended American qualifier Jesse Witten’s run to push the top 16 seeded players to 36-0 in the tournament. This is the first time in the 41-year history of the Open era that all top-16 men have advanced to the third round of a Grand Slam.

Witten is the University of Kentucky graduate who brought five of his buddies to New York, cramming everyone in his Manhattan hotel room, figuring he’d last in the main draw only for a night or two. Instead, the visit lasted a week and the 276th-ranked player also put a scare into Djokovic, the 2008 Australian Open winner, in a 6-7 (2), 6-3, 7-6 (2) 6-4 loss that lasted nearly 3½ hours.

“My biggest thing usually is I feel like I don’t belong,” Witten said. “It’s good to see I can play with these guys and belong a little bit on the stage. Hopefully, I can stay around a little longer.”

In women’s play, 13th-seeded Nadia Petrova of Russia beat 21st-seeded Zheng Jie of China, 6-4, 6-1.

Following Federer-Hewitt into Arthur Ashe Stadium were No. 29 Maria Sharapova and 17-year-old American Melanie Oudin, who advanced with an upset of fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva.

Oudin is seeking to match her fourth-round appearance at Wimbledon this summer, when she became the youngest American to go that far at the All England Club since Jennifer Capriati in 1993.

Also scheduled was John Isner vs. No. 5 Andy Roddick in an All-American matchup and 22nd-seeded Sam Querrey, another American, against No. 12 Robin Soderling, who defeated Rafael Nadal at the French Open before falling to Federer in the final.