Roger Federer set aside an uncharacteristic 68 unforced errors and what appeared to be a bad back to pull out his second five-set victory in a row at the US Open, edging Mikhail Youzhny 1-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 4-6 6-2.
It is the first time in his long career that the 36-year-old Federer has played five-setters in both the first and second rounds at a grand slam tournament.
"These five-set battles are actually quite a lot of fun," Federer said in his on-court interview in Arthur Ashe Stadium, "and I feel quite warmed up by now."
The No.3-seeded Federer won five successive US Open championships from 2004-08 and also was the runner-up twice, including two years ago. But he missed last year's tournament while taking off the second half of the season to let his back and surgically repaired left knee heal.
That time off paid obvious dividends: He is 37-3 with five titles in 2017, including his 18th Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January, then 19th at Wimbledon in July. Federer did not lose any of the sets he played in seven matches at the All England Club.
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Things have been rather different so far in New York.
Youzhny is a former top-10 player who reached the US Open semi-finals in 2006 and 2010, but he is now ranked 101st.
His level of play dipped considerably over the last two sets on Thursday as he appeared to be restricted by a leg cramp.
"I was feeling (badly) there for Mikhail," Federer said.
Federer was not quite himself for much of the match, either. He appeared slowed by the back that he tweaked earlier in August and his strokes were not at their usual level of crispness.
He also needed five sets to win in the first round Monday night against 19-year-old American Frances Tiafoe.
Earlier in the men's draw on Thursday, Grigor Dimitrov became another high-profile tournament fancy to crash out at Flushing Meadows, as he lost 7-5 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 to Russian 19-year-old Andrey Rublev.
Rublev, who next meets unseeded Bosnian Damir Dzumhur, joins Denis Shapovalov in round three, making it the first time since 2008 that two male teenagers have reached this stage at Flushing Meadows.
Former champion Juan Martin del Potro beat Adrian Menendez in straight sets to advance to the third round while Alexandr Dolgopolov eliminated 15th seed and 2010 Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych.
Damir Dzumhur and Viktor Troicki also kept their campaigns alive.
