It's labor day at Open

Federer, Djokovic survive while Davydenko doesn't

NEW YORK - The net that separates one side of the tennis court from the other, one opponent from another, served as a savior for one US Open participant and a cruel foe for another yesterday.

In the case of Novak Djokovic, the net was simply there to hold him up. Otherwise, Djokovic was sure he would have keeled over while trying to complete a television interview following his exhausting 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3, 3-hour-44-minute fourth-round victory over Tommy Robredo of Spain. The third-seeded Djokovic had entered the match still tired and sore from a three-hour third-rounder against Marin Cilic that ended well after midnight Monday.

A tranquil afternoon at the Open suddenly turned frenetic as matches on both the Arthur Ashe and Louis Armstrong courts extended beyond their expected time allotments.

While thousands of fans awaiting the start of the evening matches between second-seeded Jelena Jankovic and Sybille Bammer and eighth- seeded Andy Roddick and No. 11 Fernando Gonzalez gathered around the giant fountains just inside the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center and watched the latter stages of Roger Federer's five-set duel with Igor Andreev on a giant overhead screen - Flushing Meadows's version of Wimbledon's Henman Hill - fifth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko was across the grounds suffering through a demoralizing loss to 130th-ranked Gilles Muller of France.

At one point, Davydenko and Muller and Federer and Andreev were locked in simultaneous tiebreakers, Federer for the second set and Davydenko for the fourth. With Andreev serving at 5-6 seeking a two-set lead, after already saving two set points, Federer hit a high forehand volley that sat up long enough for Andreev to get a piece of it. But the forehand pass the Russian had in mind clipped the top of the net and sailed wide, evening the match at a set apiece.

Meanwhile over on Armstrong, Davydenko, who had not dropped a set in his first three matches, was down, two sets to one, to Muller, a qualifier who had won three matches just to get into the main draw and then back-to-back five-setters to reach the fourth round. Davydenko squandered four set points in the 10th game of the fourth set but then held serve to force a tiebreaker.

After blowing another three set points that would have taken the match into a fifth, Davydenko double-faulted to give Muller his third match point, which he won when the Russian smacked a forehand that hit the top of the net, bounced up, and dropped back on his side, giving Muller a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (12-10) victory.

"I think it was the most exciting tiebreaker I've ever played in my whole life," said Muller, who became the first quarterfinalist from Luxembourg at any major in the Open Era and the lowest-ranked quarterfinalist here since 136th-ranked Nicolas Escude of France in 1999. "I have nothing to lose, but on the other hand, I have a lot to win. It's easier to deal with the pressure to win something than to lose something."

As Muller and Davydenko were heading toward the locker room, all eyes shifted back to Ashe, where Federer suddenly looked in control, taking the third set with ease. But once again, the net intervened, this time in Andreev's favor as the Russian hit a backhand slice that ticked the tape and fell over for a winner, giving him a crucial break for 3-1 in the fourth, a lead he would hold to force a fifth set.

With the crowd inside the stadium roaring - and the fans outside now sprinting back over to Armstrong, where Jankovic was cruising past Bammer, 6-1, 6-4, in a quarterfinal that was moved to make room for Roddick and Gonzalez on Ashe - Federer broke serve in the second game of the deciding set. As the clock ticked toward the three-hour mark, Federer broke on his third attempt when he chased down a tricky drop shot off Andreev's racket and turned it into a delicate lob winner.

But even when the four-time Open champion went up, 3-0, he never seemed in complete control. With 60 unforced errors, many of them off the forehand, Federer lacked the impenetrable confidence that has defined him here. Serving at 4-2 in the fifth, the Swiss second seed faced four more break points in an 18-point game that he finally won with a backhand down-the-line pass off yet another Andreev drop shot. He then hit a service winner to go up, 5-2.

When he closed out the 3-hour-32-minute, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win two games later at love, Federer unleashed a giant roar, then tossed a toothy grin toward his friends box while the public address system blared "Still the One" by Orleans.

"Down a set and in a tiebreaker for the second, there's danger written all over that situation," said Federer, who meets Muller for a spot in the semifinals. while Djokovic will take on Roddick, who needed just 1 hour 27 minutes to demolish Gonzalez, 6-2, 6-4, 6-1. "But it's not really that much time to waste, you know, thinking about that kind of stuff. You just hope that it's going to turn your way. It did, so I'm happy.

"I think it was really entertaining for the fans," added Federer, who has played just three five-setters in 46 career matches at the Open, winning them all. "Being part of those dogfights is fun."