OPEN NOTES
Top-ranked Roger Federer may be the most complete tennis player and he’s taking aim at the most dominant campaign in nearly two decades. But last night showed no matter how well he plays, his path to the U.S. Open title won’t be a cakewalk.
Federer was near his dominating best, but still got pushed by 19-year-old qualifier Marco Baghdatis in a 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-1 second-round win. He played well, but last year’s top-ranked junior from Cyprus challenged him until cramping up in the fourth set.
Federer – who has never gotten past the Round of 16 at the U.S. Open – is trying to become the first player to win Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in the same year since Pete Sampras in 1995, and the first man to win three Grand Slams in the same year since Mats Wilander in 1988.
He’ll face the winner of today’s match between Fabrice Santoro and Russian Dmitry Tursunov on Saturday.
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Angela Haynes, a young, unranked, unheralded black qualifier from Compton, says she’s pretty much been left out of the loop by the USTA. But the way she played last night, the tennis world may well learn exactly who she is.
Whatever nerves she might have felt, she overcame them to upset No. 22 seed Magdalena Maleeva 6-2, 6-3.
Haynes, who turns 20 this month, started playing tennis at age 3 with her father Fred, and he still coaches her. Her older sister used to hit with the Williams sisters back in Compton, and that family has helped provide her tennis guidance.
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Wayne Ferreira, 32, retired yesterday after playing a record 56 straight Grand Slam events. Following his loss to Lleyton Hewitt, he said, “When I leave here, I’ve played pretty much everybody. I’ve beaten everybody except [Andre] Agassi and [Michael] Chang. I played [Bjorn] Borg, I played [Jimmy] Connors, I played [Ivan] Lendl, [Stefan] Edberg, [Boris] Becker.”
