US Open results 2017: Roger Federer avoids upset in 5-set victory

A hotly contested match between Roger Federer and Mikhail Youzhny went five sets before the former took the win.

Roger Federer narrowly avoided an upset at the US Open for the second match in a row. Federer was pushed to five sets against Mikhail Youzhny, but he rallied and managed to push himself through to the third round, winning 6-1, 6-7(3), 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Federer took the first set in dominant fashion, 6-1, and looked to be well in control of the match. But Youzhny gave Federer fits in the second set, getting a much higher percentage of his first serves in while committing fewer unforced errors. He forced a tiebreak in the second set, and took it, 7-6(3).

In the third set, Youzhny broke Federer on his third service game to take a lead in the set, and he didn’t relinquish it, going up two sets to one. In the fourth, Federer was the first one to score a break, and wound up serving at 3-1. Federer was down 40-15 in Youzhny’s service game, but fought back to deuce and converted on his first break point attempt thanks to a Youzhny unforced error.

From there, Federer held serve and Youzhny called the trainer over between games. Things were on serve for a couple more games, but Youzhny managed to score a break on Federer. He was serving down 4-5, and with the break he put things on serve. But Federer broke him back, and held to take the fourth set, forcing a fifth.

Youzhny had some moments in the fifth set, but it was largely dominated by Federer, giving him the narrow victory.

Federer entered the US Open as the third seed, having won both the Australian Open and Wimbledon earlier in the year. Federer, 36, is in the midst of an incredible career resurgence, and he’s simply been adding to his legacy as one of, if not the greatest to play the sport. That’s regardless of Thursday’s action.

Federer was also pushed in his opener against unseeded American Frances Tiafoe. Federer skipped the French Open earlier in the year to keep himself for the grass court season, and he was dominant. We might be seeing his age catch up with him in this, the final Grand Slam of the season.

Karolina Pliskova, the top-seeded woman, dropped her opening set to American Nicole Gibbs, an unseeded player, on Thursday. But Pliskova fought back and easily took the second and third sets, winning, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Grigor Dimitrov, the seventh seed for the men, found himself eliminated at the hands of his unseeded second-round opponent, Andrey Rublev. Dimitrov was hoping for a Grand Slam win in a depleted men’s field, but Rublev took the straight-sets win, 7-5, 7-6(3), 6-3.

Elina Svitolina made short work of Evgeniya Rodina, her unseeded second-round opponent. Svitolina is the women’s fourth seed and one of the favorites at the US Open. She took a 6-4, 6-4 match against Rodina on Thursday.

On Thursday evening, play on Arthur Ashe Stadium will see Rafael Nadal, the top seed for the men, taking on Taro Daniel. Prior to that, American CoCo Vandeweghe, the No. 20 seed for the women, will face Ons Jabeur.

You can find updated results and schedule for the men’s singles bracket here and the women’s singles bracket here.