Roger Federer's 3 greatest Grand Slam escapes
Roger Federer produced one of the greatest Houdini acts of his professional career when the Swiss maestro saved as many as 7 match points against inspired American Tennys Sandgren the 2020 Australian Open quarterfinals.
This marked the 22nd time the 20-time Grand Slam champion has won a match from match point down, and the first since doing so against Gael Monfils in the 2019 Madrid Masters third round.
With the win, Federer (32-23 overall, 30-17 in Majors) tied Marin Cilic (32) for most fifth-set wins by an active player in the Open Era and overtook Lleyton Hewitt (46) for most five-set matches in Grand Slams. Only Ilie Nastase (39), Ivan Lendl (36) and Pete Sampras (33) have won more five-set matches in the all-time list.
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On that note, let us have a look at Federer's three greatest Grand Slam escape acts, when the Swiss maestro teetered on the brink of defeat only for his opponent to blink at the most inopportune moment.
#3 2014 US Open Quarterfinals: Beats Gael Monfils 4-6, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-2
On a swirling evening at Flushing Meadows, Federer's usual stroke-making fluency went for a toss. The mercurial Frenchman Gael Monfils took a commanding two-set lead in their quarterfinal match at the 2014 US Open, and things looked bleak for Federer.
The then 33-year-old managed to stop the rot by taking the third set, but fell behind 15-40 at 4-5 down in the fourth. On the first opportunity, Monfils sent a backhand pass long.
Energised by the lucky reprieve, Federer blasted a forehand winner to erase the second, and Monfils never again came close to winning the match. The 5-time champion won two more points to hold serve for 5-5, broke Monfils in the next game and promptly served out the set to force a fifth.
The decider was but a blur for the Frenchman, who won just two games in the set as Federer produced the ninth comeback of his career from two sets down. It also marked the first time Federer escaped match points at a Major since saving a match point in his debut match at the US Open in 2000 against Peter Wessels.
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