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Roger Federer continues his pursuit of a 20th grand slam title, but will need a form reversal at the US Open when he takes on inconsistent 31st seed Feliciano Lopez. Join The Roar for live scores from 9am (AEST).
Federer hasn’t exactly been setting the world on fire at Flushing Meadows. After struggling in the final at Montreal and fending off questions of injury, his consistency over the first two rounds has been poor.
Champions find a way to get the job done, and that’s exactly what Federer has managed to do, but the Swiss superstar will be less than impressed with his effort thus far.
The former world No.1 and 19-time grand slam champion has battled through two unexpected five-set matches to start his campaign, and it’s something that could bite him later in the tournament. At Federer’s age, he can ill-afford to have spent so much time on court already, no matter his fitness levels coming in.
In the first round, Federer had to ward off a challenge from young American Frances Tiafoe, who won the first set. Federer dominated the next two, then lost the fourth before bouncing back to win the fifth. Even in the fifth he didn’t play strongly, breaking, being broken back and then breaking again to win.
It was another five-setter against Mikhail Youzhny in the second round, with Federer having to come back from two sets to one down.
Not only does Federer need to preserve his body, but he is in a position where he must put in a stronger performance against Feliciano Lopez, who is a seeded player.
Lopez hasn’t been in the greatest form himself, but for a brief moment, you have to consider a strong possibility of him going past Federer in this one.
He was in up and down form coming into the final grand slam of the year, a quarter-final appearance in Los Cabos being the standout of his preparations.
He has had two tough, gritty opponents in the first two rounds so there’s no shame that he was taken to four sets in either. Both were physical matches, but Lopez passed the stern examinations with flying colours, first overcoming Andrey Kuznetsov, then going past Spaniard Fernando Verdasco.
Both have some high profile scalps throughout their careers, so for Lopez to serve his way to victory and use a superior court movement on both occasions was positive to see. He will have to use both of those skills to his advantage if he is to get over Federer though.
Prediction
Federer should win this, but it’s hard to say exactly where his form is. We will have a much better idea after this match.
Federer in four sets.
Be sure to join The Roar for live scores of this match from 9am (AEST) and don’t forget to add a comment below.