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Federer screeches into quarter-finals

Roger Federer of Switzerland celebrates his victory over Igor Andreev of Russia during their match at the US Open tennis tournament in New York on Tuesday. PHOTO: AP

Roger Federer scraped into the quarter-finals of the US Open, yet his fist-pumping celebration of a five-set win over a relatively modest opponent on Tuesday did as much to demonstrate the Swiss’ perceived vulnerability as his title threat.

The former world No. 1 beat Russia’s Igor Andreev 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, and the normally even-tempered Federer celebrated with an enthusiasm that he rarely exhibited even in his 12 grand-slam title wins.

“They’re fun when you play them,” Federer said of five-setters.

“Sometimes, of course, they’re hard physically and mentally, and the pressure is huge on me, because Igor doesn’t have a whole lot to lose. For me it’s way worse, so I’m very happy with the way we competed tonight,” Federer said.

His opponent in the quarters will be Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller, who pulled off the biggest upset on Tuesday by ousting Russian No. 5 seed Nikolay Davydenko 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (10).

Novak Djokovic, the third-seeded Serb, struggled to a five-set win over Tommy Robredo, beating the Spaniard 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 to set up a quarter-final clash with the US’ Andy Roddick. The eighth seed routed Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez 6-2, 6-4, 6-1.

There were two women’s quarters played on Tuesday, with No. 2 seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia cruising past Austria’s Sybille Bammer 6-1, 6-4 and No. 5 Elena Dementieva downing Swiss player Patty Schnyder 6-2, 6-3.

Federer had been usurped as the world’s top-ranked player since Wimbledon by his long-term nemesis Rafael Nadal, and had been showing signs of uncommon vulnerability in the lead-up tournaments to the US Open, so his exuberance over a mere fourth-round win was understandable.

“It’s why you practice hard, that you play good when it’s crunch time,” Federer said. “I’m happy with the way I played today when the pressure was the highest, and the crowd gives you that feeling of going crazy a little bit.”

Djokovic did not feel quite so energized after his win over No. 15 Tommy Robredo of Spain. The Serb was bothered at various points by his abdomen, his hip, his right ankle and breathing problems.

“If we start talking about things that are bothering me ... we’ll chat for a long time,” he said. “It’s better I skip all these things and leave it behind.”

Roddick required just 87 minutes to dismiss Gonzalez, and lost only nine points on his serve. He wasn’t buying the argument that such swift work and Djokovic’s labors would give the US player an edge in their quarter-final.

“He’s also had a much better year to this point,” Roddick said. “It’s a matter of if you want to look back 10 days or 10 months.”

Federer will face a much bigger underdog than No. 23 Andreev in the last eight. Muller is ranked 130th, and is only the second qualifier to have advanced this far at Flushing Meadow in the Open era.

Muller has posted big upsets before, though much earlier in tournaments. In 2005, he beat Rafael Nadal in the second round at Wimbledon and Roddick in the first round at the US Open when each was ranked third.

“He didn’t beat Andy for nothing here a few years ago,” Federer said. “That’s why I definitely won’t underestimate him, because he’s a good player.” Dementieva and Schnyder faced each other for the 17th time, and the Russian’s strong service — she didn’t face a break point until the fourth game of the second set — propelled her to victory.

Dementieva has not dropped a set in the tournament.

Jankovic’s match had to be moved away from center court due to the unexpected length of the three-and-a-half-hour Federer match, but the change of venue did little to perturb the Serb, who cruised past Bammer.

Her next task will be Dementieva, and overcoming her record of losing all four of her previous grand-slam semi-finals. Both players are in the running to assume the world’s No. 1 ranking after the tournament.

Taiwan’s Hsieh Cheng-peng (謝政鵬) and seventh-seeded Yang Tsung-hua (楊宗樺) defeated Evan King and Raymond Sarmiento of the US 6-4, 6-3 in the first round of the boys doubles on Tuesday.

Hsieh and Yang won the boys doubles championship at Wim­bledon in July.
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