U.S. Open tennis…
NEW YORK, (Reuters) – Gasps briefly reverberated around Flushing Meadows yesterday as Roger Federer lost his first set at this year’s U.S. Open tennis while Novak Djokovic thumped his chest in relief after squeezing into the fourth round.

Five-times champion Federer arrived riding a 13-match winning streak against Lleyton Hewitt but had to snap himself out of a lull to carve out a 4-6 6-3 7-5 6-4 win over the former Australian world number one.

Fourth seed Djokovic barely knew what hit him as he came face-to-face with a player who had never won a tour match before this week but American Jessie Witten thrilled the hollering home fans for almost 3-1/2 hours before he succumbed 6-7 6-3 7-6 6-4.

Federer and Djokovic’s victories kept up the impressive run by the top men this week when for the first time at a grand slam all 16 top seeds reached at least the third round.

American teenager Melanie Oudin’s giant-killing run showed no sign of slowing down as she followed up her win over fourth seed Elena Dementieva by shunting aside 2006 champion Maria Sharapova 3-6 6-4 7-5.

“I just kept fighting as hard as I could… I can’t believe it,” a gasping Oudin told the crowd after pulling off another incredible win in just under three hours.

Federer and Hewitt are two of just three fathers ranked in world’s top 50 and it was the Swiss who appeared to be struggling with his focus in the opening set, leading John McEnroe to quip: “Looks like he slept in the same room as the (six-week-old) twins last night.”

INSPIRED DISPLAY
But the scorching conditions on Arthur Ashe Stadium, and Hewitt’s inspired display, soon woke up top seed Federer.

After spraying 23 unforced errors to lose the first set, a free-flowing Federer found his footing – except for a freakish fall midway through the third set.

Charging towards the net, Federer’s right ankle buckled under him and he tumbled over onto his hands and knees. After crawling forward a couple of steps, a grinning Federer got back up on his feet and held up his hand as if to say, “I may be down but I’m certainly not out.”

It was not long before Hewitt’s role turned into that of an admiring spectator as the world number one flashed and flicked away an array of spell-binding winners to seal victory.

“You can’t really play the style of tennis that you want to play out there. That’s the hard thing,” 2001 champion Hewitt, who converted only three of 14 break points, told reporters.

“When he is able to play the way he wants to play and dictate terms, he’s going to be very tough to beat.”

Federer, holder of a record 15 grand slam titles, added: “He made me go down a set. But I just had to believe that I could still turn this around. With a great streak I have against him, I knew that if I get back into the match then I could get back on a roll because I’ve had it so many times against him.”

Being on a roll is something Witten had never experienced before this week.

Struggling to make ends meet on the lower echelons of tennis the 26-year-old came close to quitting the sport earlier this year. Things went from bad to worse on the eve of Open as he became a victim of the global credit crunch when he was dropped by his clothing sponsor.

But handed a wildcard into the qualifying draw, the 276th ranked Witten has made the most of his opportunity to get some free laundry done at the expense of U.S. Open organisers.

Domestic chores aside, for over an hour he responded to the rhythmic chants of “Jess-ie, Jess-ie” ringing around Louis Armstrong Stadium as he tormented a racket-bashing Djokovic.

LACKED FIREPOWER
But in the end, he did not have the firepower to subdue Djokovic, who applauded the American’s heroics before telling the crowd. “It was hard to tell who was the number four player out there.”

“Once I started playing, I mean, we’re having rallies, and you don’t really think of the rankings. You’re thinking strategy more than numbers,” said Witten, who had to request almost two dozen tickets from the organisers to satisfy the demands of his friends and family.

Despite his defeat, Witten hoped the biggest payday of his career — $48,000 for reaching the last 32 – will allow him to prolong his career for “at least the rest of the year.”