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March 31, 2006
He has perfect timing
Federer outlasts Blake at Nasdaq
By Bud Collins, Boston Globe
KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. -- When tunesmith Johnny
Green composed the ballad ''Out of Nowhere," and it appeared in the
Broadway show, ''The Rose Tattoo," he couldn't have seen Roger Federer
tattooing foes on a tennis court. That was 1955, and Federer didn't
arrive on earth until 1981. But he would become the out-of-nowhere man.
It is an earth he owns in a sporting sense, and
out-of-nowhere describes him perfectly. You can bang the ball
beautifully as James Blake did last night, again and again, sending the
rubber lemon to places well beyond anyone's reach, or belief, and . . . And
Federer swoops from out of nowhere to turn the point around, steal it,
transforming himself from defense to offense instantly. Make no
mistake. The guy out of the Harvard Yard, James Blake, was threatening.
Threatening all the way for 86 minutes as they jabbed and punched each
other under the lights with every shot imaginable in a quarterfinal of
the Nasdaq-100 Open. Two weeks before, Blake had been a thorn in
Federer's side for the first 20 minutes, and a 4-1 lead, before losing
the Indian Wells final in straight sets. ''I'm learning every
time I play him," Blake says of his three losses in the asphalt
classroom, flunking this one, 7-6 (7-2), 6-4. Barely. Not until Federer
ripped a huge forehand on a second match point was the Swiss maestro
assured that he had escaped Blake's assaults and the crowd of 12,169
baying at the moon and for his blood. ''It was tough to get hold
of him," says Federer. ''But it was an important win for me. Important
to back up the last win. You don't want to beat somebody in a final,
and then lose to him the next time in the quarters." That gives
the other guy ideas, but as Blake's older brother, Tom, says,
''Federer's the only guy who can beat James now." A nice maybe. Blake and Federer formed the piece de resistance of
a sunny day that went against two of the favorites. ''Who's on first,"
the old Abbott and Costello shtick, seems to apply to the women in this
young season. Three of them -- Lindsay Davenport, Kim Clijsters, and
Amelie Mauresmo -- have momentarily graced the throne room at No. 1.
Maybe it's a curse because Mauresmo, looking as though she'd taken
Ambien -- asleep, yet playing -- was just the opponent Russian Svetlana
Kuznetsova has been looking for. Kuznetsova, almost useless since
winning the US Open of 2004, had tumbled to No. 14. Nevertheless, her
heavy forehand blasts took out Mauresmo, 6-1, 6-4, putting Kuznetsova
in tomorrow's final against countrywoman Maria Sharapova. Then
there was the staggering No. 4 Andy Roddick, looking a little better,
sounding a little more confident, but outgunned by a nearly-24-year-old
Spaniard to watch this year, David Ferrer, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. At least
Roddick, suffering his sixth loss of the campaign, fell to a better
class of adversary. In winning, the road-running man from Valencia
replaced Andre Agassi at No. 10. Roddick's other defeats have been by
nowhere guys. Ferrer, though no relation to the great actor, Jose
Ferrer, stuck his nose into Roddick's business forcefully as the
thespian Ferrer did in his famous role as Cyrano de Bergerac. Ferrer's
incredible returns took a lot of steam out of Roddick's thunderbolt
serves. But it will take a nose for a monumental upset if Ferrer is to get the better of the out-of-nowhere Federer in today's semis. Blake
gave his all, firing stronger and more accurate backhands than ever,
resurrecting points with his tremendous speed, breaking Federer for a
3-2 lead in the first. Federer curiously bungled a routine volley to
lose the game, and the customers went berserk. But this is what Federer
does. He broke right back, and withstood Blake's attack in perhaps the
most critical game of the match, the ninth. ''Frustrating" is
Blake's definition of what happened. He pushed Federer to six deuces
after being down, 40-0, pried out two break points -- only to see the
resident champ appear from nowhere to cancel each with an untouchable
winner. All this despite Federer missing 14 first serves. Hopeful
for the home gathering was the tiebreaker. Swiftly Federer was Federer
-- all nasty business seizing the first five points. Slashing a
backhand on a sideline, Federer punctured Blake's serve and was off to
a catch-me-if-you-can 2-0 lead. Blake couldn't. Buoyed by
incredible anticipation, Federer seems a mind reader. ''Wonderful
dreams, wonderful schemes out of nowhere . . ." is one of Johnny
Green's lyrics that fits Federer so well. Anybody beating him deserves a choir singing another Green tune: ''Over the Rainbow."
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