Federer starts late, ends it quickly

For the benefit of the U.S. Open fans willing to stay up well past most people's bedtime, five-time champion Roger Federer put on a show to close the tournament's Monday night/Tuesday morning session.

Federer hammered Argentina's 27-year-old Juan Monaco, ranked 36th in the world, 6-1, 6-2, 6-0, in a fourth-round match that didn't start until nine minutes before midnight but, thanks to Federer's crisp play, was over by 1:12 a.m.

As a bonus to the 7,000 or so spectators still at Arthur Ashe Stadium -- there had been a record-equaling 24,674 when the night began -- Federer tried a back-to-the-net, between-the-legs shot at 5-0 and 30-15 in the second set.

The shot went long, but the crowd roared in appreciation anyway.

The victory, in which Federer reeled off the first five games before Monaco got on the scoreboard, gave Federer his 226th victory in Grand Slam matches, second on the all-time list to Jimmy Connors' 233, in the Open era that dates to 1968.

It kept alive Federer's startling streak of trips to Slam quarterfinals; he hasn't failed to advance that far in any of the four major tournaments since the 2004 French Open.

Federer and Monaco didn't commence play on Arthur Ashe court until 11:50 p.m., having had to wait for the conclusion of the 3-hour, 2-minute Caroline Wozniacki-Svetlana Kuznetsova women's match that began 88 minutes past its scheduled 7 p.m. starting time because of the protracted day session.

It was the third-latest start on record for an Open match; in 1987, Gabriela Sabatini and Beverly Bowes began play at midnight, and last year, Wozniacki and Chesley Gullickson started a match at 11:51.

"It's not like we had to wait that crazy long,'' Federer said. "As a tennis player, you're kind of used to that. I'm happy so many people stayed.''

Federer next faces Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who came back from two sets down to upset Federer at Wimbledon this summer.