Roger Federer will attempt to make the most of his second chance and reach the US Open final for the first time in five years today.
The second seed saved two match points in the fourth set on his way to beating Gael Monfils from two sets down in a terrific quarter-final.
Federer won the tournament every year between 2004 and 2008 but since then has found it a frustrating venue. In 2009 he lost the final to Juan Martin del Potro, while in 2010 and 2011 he held match points against Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals only to lose both times.
The last two years have brought defeats by Tomas Berdych and Tommy Robredo before the last four, so it was no surprise Federer was particularly thrilled to achieve the feat in New York.
He said: “It’s just unbelievable to win matches like this at slams. I have won other big ones in other places. But over best of five, saving match points against Gael in an atmosphere that it was out here, it’s definitely very special.
“I’m not sure I have ever saved match point before in a slam. I’m unbelievably happy that it was now, because I knew I could play better after the first couple of sets.”
In the semi-finals, Federer plays Croatian Marin Cilic, who is through to his second grand slam semi-final less than a year after serving a four-month ban for a doping offence.
Cilic used the time away from the game to focus on training and improving his game and is reaping the rewards.
“I feel I’m playing probably the best tennis of my career,” said the 25-year-old, whose previous semi-final came in Australia in 2010. “But I’m not getting satisfied too easy. I made it to the semis and it’s completely different for me now than in 2010. At that time I was maybe a little bit too shocked and I didn’t know how to deal with it afterwards. But now I’m cool and it’s going well.”
A big part of Cilic’s resurgence has been the improvements he has made, particularly to his serve, under coach Goran Ivanisevic.
Cilic said: “Probably the only matches I watched on TV were Goran’s Wimbledon matches. That’s my only memory from tennis at a very young age.
“And then later I started to play with him when I was 14. He was out due to his shoulder injury. That was huge to play with my idol.
“Goran is everything but not boring, we always have a good time.”
