Federer overcomes Isner challenge

Roger Federer struggled early with the John Isner’s booming serve before defeating the American wild card 6-7 (4-7) 6-2 6-4 6-2 on Saturday to advance to the fourth round of the US Open.

Federer joined highly-seeded Americans Andy Roddick and James Blake as winners at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Saturday.

Federer, who was meeting Isner for the first time, turned up his game after losing the first-set tiebreaker, breaking the NCAA singles runner-up in the first and third games as he raced to a 4-0 lead.

The 11-time Grand Slam winner, who never lost serve, broke Isner in the seventh game of the third set and twice in the fourth to set up a meeting with Spaniard Feliciano Lopez a 3-6 6-3 7-6 (7-5) 7-5 winner over another American, 18-year-old Donald Young.

Isner, 22, fired 18 aces, greatly impressing the top seed, who had 10.

“He’s always going to be tough to beat because of that serve,” Federer said. “That serve is not going to go away anytime soon.

“That’s just the way it is. This is also one of the reasons I believe Andy (Roddick) has been able to stay in the top for so long, because that serve will always be there.”

While the inexperienced Isner and Young lost, American veteran and sixth seed James Blake moved on, but not before playing two hours and 39 minutes of tennis against unseeded Austrian Stefan Koubek.

After the two sparred rather evenly for the first three sets, Blake turned it into high gear in the 25-minute fourth set to clinch the 6-3 3-6 7-6 (5) 6-1 victory.

Blake claimed the first set after falling behind 3-1, but the American committed 16 unforced errors in the second set to allow his opponent to draw even.

Koubek broke Blake in the pivotal third frame to go ahead 5-4, but the local New York product broke right back, rattling off four straight points. Both men then held serve to set the stage for a tiebreak that Blake squeaked out of. The set took an hour and four minutes to conclude.

On a day that saw the second and seventh seed fall on the women’s side, Blake avoided a major letdown.

Number 19 Andy Murray was the day’s only upset victim in the men’s draw. The 20-year old Brit was outclassed by Korean Hyung-Taik Lee. The 31-year old Korean reached the Round of 16 for the second time in his career by knocking off Murray 6-3 6-3 2-6 7-5.

The triumph was Lee’s third over a Top 20 opponent in 12 tries thus far this season.

The second victory came his last time out when he sent home number 14 seed Guillermo Canas.

Roddick had a much easier time than his countryman Blake.

The fifth seed and 2003 champion, Roddick remained perfect all-time against Swede Thomas Johansson with a 6-3 6-2 6-0 romp.

Roddick, who improved to 5-0 lifetime against Johansson with his rout at Arthur Ashe Stadium, may face the 2002 Australian Open champion again in three weeks when the United States visits Sweden in Gothenburg for the Davis Cup semi-finals.

“It felt good,” Roddick said. “I wanted to go out and hit the ball and be aggressive, get a hold of my forehand, if I could. I felt like I did that today.”

Roddick will next play number nine Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, a 7-6 (7-2) 6-1 7-6 (7-3) winner over Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, and could face Federer in the quarter-finals.

Earlier Saturday, fourth-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko became the first man to reach the fourth round at the year’s final major with a 7-5 6-0 7-5 victory over 28th-seeded Spaniard Nicolas Almagro at Armstrong Stadium.

Davydenko, who has dropped a total of 21 games through three rounds, awaits Korean Hyung-Taik Lee in the round of 16.

A semi-finalist here in 2006, Davydenko had retired with a leg injury in his only previous meeting with Almagro, in Rome last year.