US Open 2017: Federer Beats Tiafoe In 5 Set Thriller, Nadal Advances

Swiss professional tennis player, Roger Federer defeated Frances Tiafoe in five sets in the US Open first round.

Third seed Federer was pushed by American teenager Tiafoe on Tuesday, battling to a 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, 1-6, 6-4 victory on Arthur Ashe.

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A crowd of almost 24,000 packed in to see his return to New York, but 19-year-old Tiafoe ensured they saw a far closer contest than expected.

Federer after the hard-fought win played down concerns over his back injury. He made a slow start, dropping a set in the opening round at Flushing Meadows for the first time since 2003.

And, for just the fourth time in his illustrious career, the 19-time grand slam champion was pushed to five sets in the first round of a major contest.

But Swiss, who blamed his early struggles on not being able to prepare as he would have liked, dismissed suggestions he was having issues with the back injury that troubled him heading to New York.

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“I’m very happy that I’m feeling as good as I’m feeling right now,” he said.

“Honestly, if I would have felt like that going into this tournament that my back was going to get worse every match, I probably wouldn’t have played.

“My hope and my belief is that it’s only going to get better from here because every day that goes by puts me further away from what happened in Montreal. So that’s how I see it.

“I’m very happy how I’m feeling right now, how I felt coming off the court. I think there’s a lot of positives for me to look at, that I can come through a five-setter with the preparation that I had.

“I was definitely also lucky to play tonight because the rain. Others got all pushed over to tomorrow [Wednesday]. So that would have been tougher for me maybe to back it up back-to-back days.

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“Look, if I enter the tournament, it’s because I believe I can play and go deep. I still believe that.

“I think this will actually give me a lot of confidence. In the first set really I was just seeing and feeling it, see how far I could push, but I was never in pain. It was OK.

“That’s why when I was down a set, I just said, ‘OK, the match starts here. One set all, OK, it’s a best-of-three set match.’ Being in the fifth set, I said, ‘It’s great I’m still in the match. Things are actually great.’ I always try to keep a very positive mindset out there,” he added.

The Swiss has yet to lose a Grand Slam match this year, having won his 18th and 19th major titles in Australia and at Wimbledon, while skipping the French Open.

The five-time champion goes on to face Slovenia’s Blaz Kavcic or Mikhail Youzhny of Russia on Thursday.

Meanwhile, World number one Rafael Nadal overcame a shaky start to comfortably beat Dusan Lajovic in round one of the US Open on Tuesday.

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Nadal who was the champion at Flushing Meadows in 2010 and 2013 – faced early pressure under the roof of Arthur Ashe Stadium as his opponent came out firing.

After taking the first set on a tie-break, the Spaniard dominated against the world number 85 in the game that ended 7-6 (8-6) 6-2 6-2.

Nadal will face Japan’s Taro Daniel or American Tommy Paul next in the second round of the grand slam.

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