Tommy Robredo slammed Roger Federer with his earliest loss in a decade at the US Open on Monday as the five-time champion Swiss was beaten in the fourth round 7-6 (7-3), 6-3, 6-4.
Due to nearly five hours of rain interruption and the revision of the match schedule, the contest was switched from the spacious surrounds of the Ashe showcase court — Federer’s “home” at the event since 2006 — to the more cramped Armstrong.
After not playing at the venue in seven years, Federer appeared to be ill at east at the start, his usually reliable forehand giving him fits throughout the loss in two hours, 12 minutes.
Federer came to the outback court with a 7-1 record on Armstrong.
His lone loss there came in 2000 during his tournament debut against Spain’s Juan Carlos Ferrero.
The Swiss seventh seed, who won the tournament five years on the trot from 2004, had a brutal evening on break point conversions, missing on 14 of his 16 chances, including six in the second set, as Robredo ran away with his first victory over the 17-time grand slam winner after 10 defeats.
“I kind of feel like I beat myself, without taking any credit away from Tommy,” said Federer. “Clearly he was making many balls. It was up to me to make the difference and I couldn’t.
“I kind of self-destructed, which is very disappointing, especially on a quicker court. Your serve helps you out. You’re going to make the difference somewhere.
“I just couldn’t do it. It was a frustrating performance today.” Federer ended with a disappointing 43 unforced errors as he did his best to attack from the net. Robredo, a fellow over-30, sent Federer out as the Swiss played in his 56th consecutive major, tying him with the all-time reliability record set by Wayne Ferreira.
Robredo began with a break of Federer on a fourth break point, but lost the next game for 2-all as it looked like the Swiss was poised to gain control. The pair traded another pair of breaks before the tiebreaker, where the Spaniard swept the last five points to take the lead after 56 minutes.
The Robredo train gathered speed in the second set as Federer’s forehand went further off the boil. In the third, Federer was unable to convert on any of five break points in the fourth game as his opponent levelled at 4-all.
A break for 4-2 put the Swiss in deeper trouble on the way to the loss on a first Robredo match point.
Federer said the switch of court did not make a difference.
“I’ve been practising on Armstrong, so there’s no excuse there either. I was prepared for it. I was even happy about it. I thought it was going to be a great atmosphere, that I could take advantage of maybe the fact that people were really going to get behind me, make it a great atmosphere.
“But unfortunately, you know, I didn’t show the game that they could really get into it and excited about. That’s how it goes sometimes.” Spain’s fourth seed David Ferrer won a battle with Janko Tipsarevic 7-6 (7-2), 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-3) to advance.
Women's Singles
Just one women’s match was completed before rain moved into the area after being forecast for several days, with Italian 10th seed Roberta Vinci beating 21-year-old compatriot Camila Giorgi, 6-4, 6-2.
Later, Flavia Pennetta beat Simona Halep 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) and Daniela Hantuchova got past American Alison Riske 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 to complete their matches.
Second seed Victoria Azarenka and Serb Ana Ivanovic will play their delayed match on Tuesday.