rogerfederer.com - Roger in round three

Roger in round three

Roger came through a tough test at the US Open, beating wily Frenchman Fabrice Santoro 7-5 7-5 7-6 to reach the third round.

Santoro had Roger rattled and irritable at times with a dazzling array of shot-making, but the Swiss world No.1 found his best tennis when it mattered to advance to a meeting with Olivier Rochus, the 27th seed from Belgium. "I had a blast out there today," Roger said. "Rarely the crowd gets into a match like they did tonight. The way he plays, the way I play, I knew it could be a great one."

Roger looked on course for a comfortable victory when he stormed to a 5-1 lead but Santoro, the world No.76, broke back twice and Roger needed a third break, in the 12th game, to clinch the set. Roger then saved three break points in the seventh game of the second set before again breaking to win it, and then played a stunning tiebreak in the third, winning it 7-2 and ending up with an incredible 73 winners on the night. "I could have closed it out earlier, but he played good tennis," Roger said. "The conditions were tough tonight, it was quite windy and it was tough to get it past him, particularly when he was coming to the net.