Aggressive Roger Federer saves 2 match points before defeating Gael Monfils in 5-set thriller
Roger Federer is famous for his calm and composed style of play on court. Elegance and grace ooze out of his game, whichis a sight to behold for every tennis fan. But his quarter-final match against Gael Monfils was a different proposition altogether. The 17-time Slam champion had to dig deep today; after going down two sets to love down and then facing two match points in the fourth set, Federer eventually prevailed 4-6, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5, 6-2 to advance to the US Open semifinals.
Federer started the match brightly with some quick service games. But around the middle of the set he was broken out of nowhere by the unpredictable game of Monfils, who went on to take the first set 6-4.
The second set continued the same way as the first set had ended. Federer’s unforced errors kept rising and he eventually was broken twice to lose the set 6-3. Federer’s error tally had reached 26, with 13 errors in each set. The hard-hitting Frenchman was not giving away easy points or letting Federer dictate play. Short rallies and quick winners made up his plan to derail the Fed Express, which was working perfectly up to that point.
When things are not going your way, you have to find a different approach. Federer was down two sets and he looked out of sorts. His game was for from elegant and he needed a drastic change to have any chance of staying in the match.
So the Swiss promptly changed his game style and started attacking the ball more than the previous sets. He started coming to the net more frequently and as a result, winning more points. A lot of “C’mons” came out of Federer’s mouth, as he constantly tried to raise his aggression levels.
Federer pulled one set back by winning the third 6-4, but he was still nowhere close to being in control of the proceedings, as he looked testy and ill-tempered. And his irritation reached a climax in the fourth game of the fourth set; Federer was up a break, but after losing a point with an uncharacteristic miss at the net to hand the break back, he reacted somewhat violently.
We rarely see Federer react on court through actions, but today was no ordinary day. He was clearly feeling the heat and had to raise his tempo to go beyond his usual style of play. The aggression Monfils showed in the opening sets of the match was transferred to Federer who was zapping the energy out of the Frenchman with every point played.
The Swiss even managed to save two match points when he was down 4-5. Some winners from Federer and a couple of crucial double faults from Monfils then gave the Swiss the crucial break at 5-5 in the fourth set. Federer held serve with ease to take it 7-5 and level the match at two sets all.
The Arthur Ashe stadium was on its feet by then. The crowd were witnessing one of the greatest comebacks in US Open history. Unfortunately for the neutrals, Monfils could not keep his game at the highest levels and conceded the last set 6-2.
Although the final set was one-sided, the overall match was far from it. Monfils battled through an ankle sprain and almost won the match. But it was the mental strength of Federer that saw the Swiss maestro cross the finishing line first and reach his first US Open semi-final since 2011.
Here is what the 17-time Grand Slam winner had to say after coming through one of his most famous victories.