by Joe Checkler
4 September 2003

Nobody could blame Todd Martin and Juan Carlos Ferrero for wanting to go five sets to settle their round-of-16 match at the 2003 US Open. A sparse but later-spirited Louis Armstrong Stadium crowd helped Martin take the No. 3 seed the distance in what became a two-day match, but the Spaniard prevailed 6-2, 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 6-3 to advance to the quarterfinals.
After rain postponed the first day of their match with Ferrero up 1-0 in sets, the Spaniard quickly won the second today to go up 2-0. But what followed was a calculated comeback by Martin, who won all his service games in the third and fourth set en route to forcing a fifth. But Ferrero kept his poise and finally broke Martin again to go up 4-2, and held his serve twice to win the match.

Momentum meant nothing throughout the match, first when Ferrero held the 2-0 lead after two sets and later when Martin had tied it at two-all. The two seemed destined for a fifth-set tiebreak after five games, as each breezed through service games. But when a Ferrero lob at 30-40 sailed over Martin’s head and smooched the baseline to make it 4-2, the most important game of the match had been decided.

In the third and fourth sets, Martin held his serve despite several laborious struggles. Ferrero, on the other hand, won many of his service games in less than a minute during those sets, but could not completely push the door’s button into the lock position while holding serve. Martin acted as a locksmith who didn’t require any tools but rather a little brute strength and a sprinkle of resourcefulness.

To sneak back into the match, Martin smacked a blistering forehand winner at ad out to go up 5-3, and served out the set in a five-deuce game. His serve was the key to his comeback, though, as he out-aced Ferrero by 23-12 despite making more than double the amount of unforced errors as his opponent.

For his second big break, Martin hit a backhand winner at 5-5 in the third to get it to 0-40, and when a Ferrero second serve tickled the tape and flew off to the side, the 33-year old America was up 6-5 and ready to serve out the set. He did, and the seats at Armstrong quickly became occupied with rowdy fans who wanted him to win.

But Ferrero regrouped and advanced further in the US Open than he ever has. He will now play Lleyton Hewitt.