Sunday 3 September 2017 13:32, UK
After two marathons, Roger Federer sprinted past Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-3 6-3 7-5 to reach the US Open fourth round on Saturday.
It has been a far different start to Flushing Meadows than Wimbledon, where an economical Federer stormed to his 19th grand slam title without dropping a set.
In his opening two matches at the US Open, a misfiring Federer had been forced to five sets, first by American Frances Tiafoe then Russian veteran Mikhail Youzhny.
After being broken eight times and committing a whopping 124 unforced errors in those first two contests, a focused Federer tightened up his game against Lopez, operating with his hallmark efficiency.
"I struggled the first couple of rounds but I think that had something to do with my opponents. They came out and played very well," Federer said in his post-match interview on court.
"Once I got off to a slow start and once my opponent fought back really hard and today it almost happened again in the third set but I think I played a very clean match.
"I couldn't be happier to get a match in straight sets against Feliciano who has been a great competitor over the years."
A capacity crowd saw Federer try out everything in his tool bag. The timely big serve, the elegant backhand, laser forehands, hustle and defense were all on display.
He committed just 16 unforced errors while firing 32 winners to run his record to 13-0 against the 35-year-old Spaniard.
Federer started the match as if he had dinner reservations, breaking Lopez to go up 4-2 then holding serve to clinch the opening set in a snappy 25 minutes.
He marched on, his focus only faltering slightly in the third set when he allowed Lopez to break back.
But the 36-year-old Swiss just buckled down and broke Lopez again to close out the match and set up a fourth round meeting with German Philipp Kohlschreiber.
Meanwhile, in the day's last contest, home favourite Madison Keys battled back from a set down to reach the last 16 of the women's draw.
The 15th seed won eight of the last nine games to beat Elena Vesnina 2-6 6-4 6-1 in a match that finished at 1.45am local time.
Sky Sports Tennis will have all the action from the US Open covered via our website www.skysports.com/tennis with our live blogs and updates throughout the fortnight as the Grand Slam year reaches its climax.
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We will also have coverage of the World Tour Finals in November with every match live on Sky Sports.
