US OPEN

Despite the third set antics of [CR76] Marinko Matosevic (AUS), Federer kept his cool and pulled it off in the tie-break.

Matosevic hit some good shots, but his rash of unforced errors was his undoing.  Was fitness an issue or was it just his lack of belief that he could beat [CR3] Roger Federer (SUI)?

Even when he had easy shots to take a lead, he dumped many of them in the net or sent them sailing long. Tennis requires focusing on the ball at all times yet still being aware of the court position of your opponent.  Matosevic appeared to be too focused on everything happening in the stadium than on the court.  Whatever the reason, his performance tonight was a tad lacking, too inconsistent.

Federer had his backhand passing shots working tonight and despite the little hiccough in the third, he won the match in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(4).