15.09.2009

ATP - ROGER HAS TO PASS ON HIS US OPEN CROWN

Roger was not able to extend his collection of Grand Slam titles to 16 today. He was defeated by Juan Martin del Potro in the final of the U.S. Open 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-7(5), 2-6.

In warm but slightly windy conditions, Roger started perfectly. At 5-4 and 30-0 in the second set, he was just two points away from a two sets to love lead. But the Argentinian suddenly stepped it up and after getting back to 30-30, he ripped a brilliant forehand pass down the line to set up a break point. The ball was initially called wide but always looked good with the naked eye and Hawk-Eye agreed as Del Potro won the challenge. Roger did not agree at all as he had seen the ball land next to the line. Roger started having more and more problems with his service and wasn't able to use this weapon in critical moments, cumulating a total of 11 double faults. Del Potro played a strong match, probably returning better than the players that had challenged Roger in the previous rounds. Del Potro was allowed a challenge after both players were near their seats in the third set, much to Roger's dislike. Our champ came out firing after that, but unfortunately wasn't able to keep it up. After claiming the third set, del Potro won a tiebreaker in the fourth and broke Roger in the second game of the fifth set.