Sweating Makes It Sweeter for Federer

How often does that look of relief appear on Roger Federer’s face after a match?

Federer raised his racket in the air and stuck out his tongue, looking like a little kid who knew he might have escaped punishment. In this case, punishment would have meant going five sets with James Blake, flirting with the possibility of a rare quarterfinal loss at a Grand Slam.

On Thursday night, the top-seeded Federer survived his own moments of unsettling vulnerability -- missing his money shot, two forehands on match points in the final game of the fourth set, among other things -- before subduing the resilient power game of No. 5 Blake, 7-6 (7), 6-0, 6-7 (9), 6-4, in 2 hours 47 minutes at the U.S. Open.

The sight of Federer squandering match points -- he finally won it on his fourth -- and failing to serve out matches is amazingly rare, especially against someone not named Rafael Nadal.

“We had good tennis in all the sets,” said Federer, who later called the match a “thriller.”

The partisan fans hardly deterred him: “Even the crowd was tough. I love it.”

He had to be reminded during his on-court TV interview that he had served for the match in the third set, and consulted the scoreboard to see that, yes, indeed, it had been decided by a tiebreaker.

“It took a while today,” he said. “Look, it’s tough. You make mistakes. He plays well. Momentum shifts and it’s a tough match. Nothing new for me to be in a struggle like this.”

Said Blake: “Did his heart rate ever go up above 60? He doesn’t look too nervous to me.”

Federer’s defensive skills often get overlooked because of his superb shot-making ability. The blend was what landed him in a semifinal at a major for an Open-era record 10th consecutive time, tying Ivan Lendl’s mark. Saturday, he will play No. 7 Nikolay Davydenko, who made a stirring comeback in an earlier quarterfinal after losing the first two sets.

Davydenko defeated No. 14 Tommy Haas, 4-6, 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-4, 6-4, in 3 hours 45 minutes, reaching the semifinals of a Grand Slam for the second time in his career. The first was at the French Open last year.

For Haas, playing three consecutive five-set matches took a toll. He needed the trainer in the middle of the fifth set because of cramps. It didn’t help that he was playing someone who appears to be a human ball machine and plays nearly every week on the tour.

“All the time when I was young, I was playing everything, fighting, play from the baseline,” said Davydenko, who got back in it by breaking Haas in the eighth game of the third set. “But I was skinny. I still think I am skinny, you know.”

One of Federer’s tougher matches on his way to the Australian Open title in January was a quarterfinal against Davydenko; the Swiss needed four sets and two tiebreakers to win.

Against Blake, Federer could have wrapped it up in three but failed to convert a match point in the third-set tiebreaker when Blake ripped a backhand down the line. Eventually, Blake won the third on his fifth set point when Federer slipped and hit a passing shot out.

It was the first time he had taken a set from Federer in five matches, though Blake has pushed Federer in individual sets, including the final at Indian Wells in March when he went up by two breaks in the first set.

His Indian Wells strategy made the cross-country trip, and for about the first 50 minutes it worked sublimely against Federer. Blake was punishing the ball with his forehand, going for broke with quick-strike tennis, refusing to let Federer get into a comfort zone. Even the usually smooth Federer looked rushed on his shots under Blake’s attack.

Unfortunately for Blake, the first set lasted 54 minutes. Blake squandered three set points in the tiebreaker and let Federer slip away. Sporadic periods of inspired tennis are simply not enough when Federer is on the other side of the net.

Blake summed it up best on the court when Federer hit yet another winner late in the third set: “You’re too good.”

He took it another step in the interview room, saying: “I’d make a case for Roger Federer being the best athlete of our time -- not tennis player, athlete.”

lisa.dillman@latimes.com

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U.S. Open

Thursday’s results and today’s featured matches:

THURSDAY

* No. 7 Nikolay Davydenko def.

No. 14 Tommy Haas, 4-6, 6-7 (3),

6-3, 6-4, 6-4.

* No. 1 Roger Federer def. No. 5 James Blake, 7-6 (7), 6-0, 6-7 (9), 6-4.

TODAY

* Jelena Jankovic (19), Serbia,

vs. Justine Henin-Hardenne (2), Belgium

* Amelie Mauresmo (1), France, vs. Maria Sharapova (3), Russia

Source: Associated Press