NEW YORK -- Roger Federer's lob, if you could call it that, went up awkwardly and it appeared the wind would push it long.
Marin Cilic,
who is only 22 but has been touted as a possible Grand Slam champion
for years, tried to hit it. Swinging just a little too quickly, he
slammed the ball -- into the net. The crowd sighed; break point
squandered.
"That, right there, is the difference between Roger
Federer and Marin Cilic," said Matt Wilansky, ESPN.com's sometimes
astute tennis editor.
Sure enough, Federer ramped up his serve and two missed returns
later, he held. And although he lost the set -- his first ever to Cilic
-- he managed to come through the match somewhat intact, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4,
6-2.
His serve and his backhand were a little shaky, but this is what
you expect of a 16-time Grand Slam champion. Cilic, for the record, has
none.
"Coming in, I knew it was going to be tricky," Federer said,
"and I'm happy that I was able to counter his pace and his good play.
In the third set sort of in the beginning, I thought that was a key
moment because he had momentum on his side.
I was not returning and
serving exactly the way I wanted, but I was able to turn it around and
finished strong in the set. Then in the fourth things were a bit easier.
"Tough match from start to finish, really, because also the first set could have gone differently. I know that."
These are interesting times for Federer.
He
is not quite the player he was when he won three majors in a single
season -- three different times, 2004, 2006-07. The Swiss champion has
won a Grand Slam singles title every year since breaking through in 2003
at Wimbledon.
So far in 2011, Federer has zero on the board. Now 30,
he's won only one tournament this year, Doha in January. It's his lowest
title total at this late point in the season in a decade.
His draw, however, seems kind. Now that Cilic is gone, there are no
seeded players in his path to the quarterfinals.
There he would probably
meet either Mardy Fish or Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Novak Djokovic,
presumably, would be lurking in the semifinals -- a tasty matchup all
around. Djokovic beat Federer here in last year's semifinals, but
Federer took him out in this year's semifinals at Roland Garros.
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