• US Open, Day Six

Plays of the Day: Loving the lob

Serena Williams looks on after sliding to the floor © PA Photos

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Loving the lob
The lob is powerful weapon in tennis, but of late it has been the sliced lob that has come into fashon rather than the previously favoured topspin lob. But being traditionalists, ESPN are fans of the topspin iteration and Caroline Wozniacki had us purring with delight when delivering a stunning effort. Vania King, seemingly sick of seeing all her drives from the back of the court returned with interest, came in behind a decent approach. Wozniacki scampered across the baseline, got down low and hit up and behind the ball, sending it spinning over King and landing perfectly in the corner and the topspin took it away from the American.

Hot volley
Roger Federer came out in a mood to attack, as he powered into balls on both wings, seemingly in a bid to intimidate Marin Cilic. But he has some of the softest hands in the game and he proved the point with a stunning serve-volley. Cilic got a good look on the serve and sent it low towards Federer's ankles, but the Swiss stooped and sent a backhand volley an inch over the net and slicing away into the corner.

A rapid change
Nikolay Davydenko stepped in and traded blows with Novak Djokovic in the opening point, ultimately swinging a forehand wide. A shrug of the shoulders and the Russian wandered up to his chair. No he wasn't joining the list of retirees, he handed his racket to a ballboy and asked him to take it to the stringer to take one kilo off the tension. You often see players asking for tension changes during matches, but I've never seen it after one point.

Smash not nice
Players don't get too many chances to break the Roger Federer serve, so when they arrive you really need to take them. After seeing Federer take the opening set, Cilic worked a break point in the fourth game of the second set. He set the point up to perfection, forcing Federer to scamper before unleashing a huge forehand that forced the Swiss to throw up a weak defensive lob. The smash was there for Cilic to kill but he somehow sent it crashing into the net.

A true turning point
So often you hear commentators talking about pivotal moments in matches, that turn out not to be turning points. But we had a true turning point in the third set of the clash between Roger Federer and Marin Cilic. The match was poised at a set-all, four-all when Federer worked a break point. The Croat composed himself at the back of the court, but umpire Pascal Maria felt he took too long and gave him a warning. Two swings of the racket later and Cilic had served a double fault to hand the break to Federer who went on to take the set and then raced through the next set to seal the win. Turning point? What do you reckon?

The forehand
Serena Williams was under a bit of pressure on her own serve at 3-2 in the second set and Azarenka sensed a chance when seizing on a short ball. She whipped a forehand towards the corner, grunting exceptionally loudly as she did so, and came in behind the shot. It looked a good play but Williams scampered across and flashed a forehand across her opponent and into the corner. The winner was greeted with a roar from Williams and a bigger one from the crowd on Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Hot dog practice
Roger Federer is the king of the hot dogs, he has a showreel of amazing shots. People have asked how much he practices them and we don't know the answer, but he took a sneaky practice shot during his win over Marin Cilic. A booming serve had just secured him a hold at 4-2 and as the ball drifted over his shoulder, he chased it back and pulled off the perfect hotdog. A small grin rolled across the Federer face as the crowd lapped it up.

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