NEW YORK, Sept 6: Andy Roddick´s hopes of a second US Open crown, six years after his first, were blown apart by giant compatriot John Isner on Saturday in the first major upset of the men´s tournament. The six-foot-nine-inch product of the US collegiate system stunned the fifth seed and top US hope 7-6 (7/3), 6-3, 3-6, 5-7, 7-6 (7/5) in a 3 hours 51 minutes, third-round clash between two of the biggest servers in tennis.[break]
There were scares also for top seed and defending champion Roger Federer and fourth seed Novak Djokovic. Both dropped their opening sets but both bounced back to win in four.
While defending champion and top seed Federer made it 14 in a row over former world No.1 Lleyton Hewitt with a 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 win, fourth-seeded Djokovic struggled to see off the challenge of US wildcard Jesse Witten 6-7 (2/7), 6-3, 7-6 (7/2), 6-4.
The Isner-Roddick clash turned on two tie-breaks - one in the first and one in the fifth. Both were won by 24-year-old Isner, who is back to full fitness after missing three months of the year with mononucleosis.
"Maybe I was a little bit fortunate to win tonight, but I played well and I think I deserved it," he said. "It hinged on a few points here and there.
"He brought it back and took it to the fifth set and from there it was anybody´s game.
"I told myself, just hold serve, and if I could get to the tie-breaker I was confident.
"I can really do some damage here. I´m not finished yet."
With US No.2 Sam Querrey also going out in a 6-2, 7-5, 6-7 (6/8), 6-1 loss to French Open runner-up Robin Soderling of Sweden and James Blake losing 7-6 (7/2), 6-4, 6-4 to Tommy Robredo, Isner now represents the best chance of a first home win since Roddick in 2003.
It was a crushing blow for Roddick, who lost a marathon five-setter to Roger Federer in the Wimbledon final in July.
"It was a tough one to lose especially after coming back all that way," he said.
"Bottom line for the entire match is he played great in the breakers. I dont know if I missed a ball in one of the breakers. He played well when he had to.
Federer, seeking a sixth straight US title to match the 84-year-old record of Bill Tilden, was uncustomarily out first under a hot midday sun at the Arthur Ashe Stadium court and he was uncustomarily sluggish and careless.
In contrast, Hewitt, the champion here in 2001 who is clawing his way back up the rankings after falling out of the top 100 in February, looked much the livlier and more enterprising.
The Australian broke Federer twice to win the first set and had several break points in the third after the Swiss star had levelled the set scores.
But he failed to take them and Federer gradually worked his way back to near his very best, taking the third set and then breaking at start of the fourth.
A consummate front-runner, Federer raced away to clinch his 38th straight win at the US Open, including one walkover, since he lost to David Nalbandian in the fourth round in 2003.
The win, which assures Federer of retaining the world No 1 status no matter who wins the title here, means he will play Robredo for a place in the quarter-finals.
"It could have gone either way," Federer said.
"He had a good start and he believed maybe more today than in some of the other ones he played against me.
"The way I came through, I was very happy, because I knew that being down a set against Lleyton is always going to be a difficult situation for me to be in."
"Make one more mistake and I´m in the fifth set maybe, or I go down completely. So I was relieved coming through."
Djokovic, the 2008 Australian Open champion and 2007 US Open runner-up, took three hours and 28 minutes to subdue Witten, the longest long-shot still in the field at 276th in the world.
"Looking at that match, I don´t know who was No. 4 in the world," Djokovic said. "It was a tough win. For either one it would have been well deserved."
Also through early on into the fourth round from the top half of the draw was wily Czech Radek Stepanek, who defeated Germany´s Philipp Kohlschreiber 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 to set up a clash with Djokovic.
Russian livewire Nikolay Davydenko, seeded eight, cruised past Switzerland´s Marco Chiudinelli 6-4, 7-5, 7-5. and he will go up against Soderling.
Spanish 10th seed Verdasco meanwhile hit back from a break down in the final set to edge German veteran Tommy Haas 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (10/8), 1-6, 6-4.
Top seeds Safina, Sharapova ousted
Meanwhile, in women´s competition, World number one Dinara Safina and three-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova crashed out of the US Open at the hands of teen titans on Saturday, aiding fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova´s title bid.
Petra Kvitova, a 19-year-old Czech who won her first WTA title in January at Hobart, and US giant-killer Melanie Oudin, two weeks shy of her 18th birthday, became the darlings of Flushing Meadows after their third-round shockers.
Kvitova, ranked 72nd, saved three match points in the 12th game of the final set and eliminated Safina 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7/5).
"I´m very happy. It was amazing," said Kvitova, her voice cracking with emotion. "Second set I was very down. I was not focused. It was terrible. After that I concentrated on every ball and I won."
Safina will remain atop the rankings after the Open but is still searching for a first Grand Slam title and a way to play her best when it matters most.
"Third set, come back from down again having everything in my hands and just phhhhhwww," Safina said. "She played some good points but still I let it go away again from my side. Three match points and I didn´t do anything on them.
"Disappointing. Very disappointing."
Oudin stunned former world number one Sharapova 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 at Arthur Ashe Stadium by holding serve in the final game after six consecutive service breaks to book a quarter-final berth against Russian 13th seed Nadia Petrova.
"I still feel like I had my chances even though it wasn´t my best day," said Sharapova. "When you let those chances go, it´s just frustrating."
Reigning French Open champion and sixth seed Kuznetsova dispatched Israel´s Shahar Peer 7-5, 6-1, to become the highest remaining seed in her half of the draw with dangerous Sharapova also gone.
Oudin followed her upset of former world number one Jelena Jankovic at Wimbledon with a second-round US Open ouster of fourth seed Elena Dementieva and added Sharapova to her victims list.
"I´m just so happy," a tearful Oudin said. "I just kept fighting as hard as I could. I tried as hard as I could. I just came in believing.
"I once again proved to myself that I can compete with these top girls. If I believe in myself and my game, then I can beat them."
Sharapova, who returned from right shoulder surgery in May, double faulted 21 times and committed 63 unforced errors, 19 more than Oudin, who converted on only 8-of-26 break-point chances.
"With the amount of errors I made from both my groundstrokes and my serve, to be able to get it to three sets is not bad," Sharapova said. "If I didn´t make those errors, those double-faults, I certainly would have won the match.
"So that gives me some confidence."
There was no such optimism for Safina, who made 39 unforced errors and nine double faults with only 12 winners. While Kvitova had 59 unforced errors, she fired 47 winners with only five double faults.
"I just thought I must play each point very good because Safina would play every point," Kvitova said. "She didn´t give up."
Critics says Safina is less worthy of the top ranking than US Open second seed Serena Williams, the 11-time Slam winner who holds the Australian Open and Wimbledon titles.
Safina, who was upset that officials moved her match off Ashe stadium due to night session time issues, spoke of wanting to ease her tension but said losing the top ranking would not bring her relief.
"How you can be relieved if you lose No. 1 spot in the world, your dream?" she said.
Safina did nothing to support her cause with a third consecutive match in which she lost the first set, roared back to win the second, then gave away an early break in the third.
This time, she could not overcome her mistakes to advance.
"Everything is in the head. It knows how to do everything and it stops me," Safina said. "I step on the court and I want to do one thing and I go on the court and I do the completely opposite thing."
Safina forced three match points on Kvitova´s serve in the 12th game of the last set, but the Czech sandwiched a backhand and forehand winner around a Safina mis-hit backhand to escape the threat and reach the tie-break, which she won on her second match point when Safina sent the ball long.
Kvitova plays for a quarter-final spot against Belgian Yanina Wickmayer, who beat Italy´s Sara Errani 6-3, 6-4.
Kuznetsova, the 2004 US Open winner, plays Danish ninth seed Caroline Wozniacki - who beat Romanian Sorana Cirstea 6-3, 6-2 - for a last-eight spot against Oudin or Petrova, who ousted China´s Zheng Jie 6-4, 6-1.
Argentina´s Gisela Dulko ousted Kazak Yaroslava Shvedova 6-3, 6-4, and will next face Ukraine´s Kateryna Bondarenko, who eliminated Australian qualifier Anastasia Rodionova (AUS) 7-6 (7/4), 6-4.