US OPEN – Roger Federer (2) just needed 80 minutes to dispatch Steve Darcis from the 2015 US Open singles tournament. The 5-time champion dropped just 4 game as he raced into the 3rd round 6-1 6-2 6-1. “Very often, I started this tournament quite strong. It’s always gone quite well for me. I’ve always enjoyed conditions here, the balls, the speed of the court, the atmosphere in the arena. It’s always worked very well for me,” Federer said after the match.
Federer never allowed Darcis to feel settled in the match at any point putting the Belgian under pressure from the opening game. Darcis who can be a dangerous player having taken out Rafael Nadal out of Wimbledon back in 2013 in the opening round, was able to win the first game of the match. Federer then went on a 9-game winning stretch taking the 1st set 6-1 and a 3-0 lead in the 2nd set. Darcis was able to hold serve twice in a row to be down 2-4 but Federer broke him again to close out the set 6-2.
The 3rd set was not different for the Belgian as Federer continued to show his superior game as well as his experience on this major centre stage. He got out to another early lead at 5-0 and Darcis just avoided the bagel set by holding serve for 1-5. Federer then closed out the match 6-1 6-2 6-1.
Federer had 46 winners, 11 of which were aces to 25 unforced errors. He won 86% of his 1st serve points and 56% behind his 2nd serve. He was up at net 29 times during the match, winning the point on 19 such occasion. Darcis on the other hand could only manage a total of 8 winners to 18 unforced errors. After the match, the Swiss had this to say of his performance, “I was able to mix it up, was attacking, was also staying back some. I was pretty much all-out attack as much as I could.”
Federer will next face Philipp Kohlschreiber (29) who took out Lukas Rosol 7-6 6-2 6-2.
