For the second time in three days, Roger Federer kept his hopes of winning a sixth US Open title alive by the smallest of margins, with another five-set epic inside Arthur Ashe Stadium. The 19-time Grand Slam champ toppled Mikhail Youzhny, 6-1, 6-7, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, to advance to the third round less than 48 hours after going the distance in his opening match against American Frances Tiafoe. This was the 17th meeting in 17 years between Federer and Youzhny, who first played each other at an indoor hard-court event in Stockholm, Sweden, in 2000. The victory maintains Federer’s perfect record against the Russian. It is the first time Federer has played multiple five-set matches in the same year at the US Open, let alone back-to-back. After a so-so opening match high in entertainment and emotion but average in terms of quality on Day 2 and another far-from-convincing win yesterday, the question will be whether Federer has enough in the tank to advance deep in the second week.
Today’s Matches round 32
