Former World No. 1 and five-time champion Roger Federer crashed out of the US Open, losing 6-3, 5-7, 6-7, 6-7 to John Millman of Australia in the fourth round of the tournament on Tuesday. Throughout the match, Federer, who was making unusual choices in his stroke-play, appeared to be having some sort of issue with his health, but what eventually proved to be his undoing was the 76 unforced errors he committed in the match.
Federer had a little bit of trouble in his opening service game as he faced a break point, but three successive fine serves got the 37-year-old through to a service hold. The 2nd seed then broke to love to take an early 2-0 lead before motoring through to a comfortable hold for 3-0. The Swiss had a chance for a double break in the 4th game, but Millman somehow managed to hang on to his serve to get on the scoreboard.
And even though the Australian’s level of play rose from there on, it was the maestro, who eventually took the first set 6-3 in 33 minutes with the assistance of three aces, 15 scintillating winners and by winning an incredible 87% points behind his first serve.
At the start of the second set, Federer produced perhaps the worst service hold of his career. He just couldn’t find a first serve, hitting an awful two out of 22, but still found a way to keep the set on serve in game No. 2. The Basel native then had two break points in the next game to take a firm grip on the proceedings inside the Arthur Ashe Stadium, but failed to capitalize as Millman surged ahead to a 2-1 lead.
However, Millman couldn’t sustain his high level of play for long, as Federer continued to put pressure on his serve with his aggressive stroke-making from the baseline. The Swiss got the crucial break after another marathon game before consolidating it, with Federer closing out with a powerful overhead winner at the net.
But the set wasn’t over then and there as Millman broke back in the 10th game, denying Federer the chance to take a two set to love lead in the contest. The set took another dramatic turn as the Aussie broke Federer once again in the 12th game to put the match on an even keel at a set apiece. The great man’s struggles with his first serve continued as he simply couldn’t find any sort of timing and rhythm on his first delivery.
Millman continued from where he left of in the second set as he started the third set with a good hold. On the contrary, Federer’s troubles with his first serve remained as he continued to labor through his service holds. Yet, Federer was able to up the tempo when he needed to as he somehow survived the Millman onslaught to take it to a tie-breaker.
As you have heard many times, fortune generally favors the brave and it was Millman, who was brave enough to take the game to Federer as he came back from a mini-break and a set point down to claim set No. 3. By just about squeezing his way in the breaker, Millman took a decisive two set to one lead in the match.
With both players playing a little conservatively at the beginning of the fourth set, somebody needed to step-up or go off the boil and that is exactly what happened to Millman. Suddenly the breakthrough that Federer needed came in the sixth game and it came following a couple of unforced errors from Millman as Roger secured the break to gain momentum and a 4-2 lead. But, Millman broke back immediately in the next game before quickly leveling it at 4-4 by holding on to his serve with the utmost ease.
The steely resolve of Millman, eventually took the set into a tiebreak. And in the tiebreaker, Federer’s serve completely went off as he served back-to-back double faults, something which nobody had seen from Federer in a long, long time. In fact, Federer made six consecutive uncharacteristic errors to offer Millman five match points. And, Millman did indeed achieve the biggest win of his career when Federer committed another error, sending a forehand long to end the match in three hours and thirty four minutes.
