How do you not put that away, Andy? Ridiculous.

Allez!

"My hatred of ESPN grows and grows. Idiots."

You disappoint me, Lock. I expect the kids to say this, not you. You do know that those are pretty good NBA players on the court, right? I'm watching both the stream and the TV, actually.

Nice volley from Andy.

Notice to ESPN, you should show this match live, tennis fans pay their bill too. Thanks.

Tina, yes he will play Cincy. He's there and had a couple of practice sessions. He looks better than he has in awhile so that's a plus.

Fed...please convert...allez!

Awww some net cord love for Fed.

Crowd support for Roger should be a credit to him, right? Considering Switzerland wasn't an imperial power and can not count on colonial fans to root for him - like US, GB and Spain.

WHAT DID I TELL YOU?

(c'mon I need a hand of applause here)

I do not believe what I just saw. OMG. Oh Andy. No

ouch..

c'mon Fed, hold!

Sorry, NP. I'm not in the mood for NBA stuff. I watched a bit of it, and it felt like a first round Olympics game. Exhibition game feel. :)

Gusty hold there, Andy. Oh, wait.

DF??? Muzz...

Never mind...I will take it.

Now..Fed...capitalize. HOLD

And he breaks, that's 2/2 now.

Fed is so much better returner than Rafa on hard court. Muzz would have aced Rafa with that serve at T 0-30, but Fed at least put it in play, slow slice.

And with that, Fed came back at 5-5! Who's your daddy, Muzz?

I thought this set was over?

Yea 5 all.

Here come the lectures to us 'kids' from the mature one :)

TripleF,

You were right!

If it's a B-ball international friendly against France, does that mean Mr. Eva Longoria is playing, and pour eux?

g'day jewell. been following things, just not online (break is good for sanity). Anyhoo, Roger making a match of it :-)

Once again, it is Murray's FH biting him in the ass.

First point. Has a putaway FH he doesn't put away and Federer passes him.

Two more UFEs on the FH and a DF and it is 5-5.

Murray doesn't pull out this match and he may have some serious doubts in future matches against Federer.

does Fed want to return the favor?

Not a good time for a DF.

Oh Roger how did you miss that????

Geez....Fed...can you not take a gift when its given to you?

Roger how could you miss that

Geez....Fed...HOLD

ace please

No biggie, Lock. You know what I was trying to get at.

Magic b/h brings deuce and digs Roger out of self-dug hole.

Hello all! Here to see how the first set is going. I've taken to some serious housecleaning today to manage the nerves so I need to get back to the projects at hand. Go Fed Go! I'd love him to win this and notch an MS title this year but overall happy he eked out some three-setters, got some needed match confidence and regained #2 for the time being. A Fed win will be icing on the cake today but overall very pleased with the week!

I echo Jason Goodall: what was that?!?!?

what is happening?

What was that???

that was a total crap shot butchered by Fed. ha ha ha

Oh Roger you should have been out of this game already!

what a massive brainfart. Three points in a row.

And he kindly gives it back.

Murray's speed always deceives me. Great lob on that dropshot.

ohhhhkay. That made no sense whatsoever.

Oh man, this was bad, then it got worse, then it got better, then it got really bad and now it is horrific.

WTF Roger?

What is the matter with him? That was so going out with the raquet at that angle!!

Rewind back to that early parts of 2009.

Who is that clown in pink?

The wheels are falling off again....I should never watch Muzz Vs Fed....they never make any sense ever.

What the hail was that???
Who the hail is that on court??
Geez Fed, for once just once cant you make this easy??
CRIPES Almighty!!!

Hmmm..broken again after getting back to even...not what I wanted to see!

"Good to see Federer can make a mess of a shot like that as well"

Jesus, Darren needs a dose of reality. Has he never seen Fred, like the rest of us?

Mega brain fart. First order of its kind. A ripper. You could light it up for a firework. What the...

Pity. Breaks exchanged. Murray's defense is the winner in game 11: able to stay in several points and coax Federer into errant FHs. Federer was making the right decisions in Melbourne, but has been outthought so far this set.

The "forehand" at ad-in was the most inexplicable shot I've ever seen Federer hit. What a horrible game.

Last couple games have been a bit spotty, no?

C'mon Fed break back will ya?
This isn't funny!
That second serve my Murray looked out to me.

Murray turn to fart away...I guess.

well Fed was out of this set a long time ago, so really, cant complain, i sense some big time mental fatigue here, quite honestly ... thats just lack of concentration, im just glad he didnt get bageled ... onward and forward, as they say

for reasons unknown, Fed refuses to be 2010 Toronto champ. Muzz so passive, btw. Geez. Classic Muzz, pushing balls back and waiting the other guy to self-implode.

oh dear...these two ARE embarressing.

Ahndy, dropshots are supposed to drop on the OTHER side of the net :-)

geez not another 3 set marathon Fed, you have Cincy to defend! just go down meekly at this point, youve done your work this week...

MSF, in Muzz's defense he's been trying to add more oomph to his FH. That last I-I FH up the line is proof.

Andy kind of really hit a forehand there before he came into net to put away the reply. Don't see that too often.

Well make it a three setter Roger please.

Yes it's true, Federer can make it seem heavenly one minute and hellish the next. He's good at that too.

Since when Muzz became Rafa on hardcourt? Geez, what a way to choke away and gave us false hope, man.

Muzz wins the first set at last.
Honestly, he should have won it 15 minutes before.

I like how Murray is working that FH the past 2 days.

I don't see this getting over anytime soon.
Christopher, word. The most perplexing goof Fed did on court - exact flip side of his tweener against Nole in USO last year.

"oh dear...these two ARE embarressing."

Yeah... of course, ladyjulia... what awful players Federer and Murray are...

There was no good reason to lose that game at 5-all. Grrrrr.

Massive brainfarting is just about the worst thing to see.

This is after Fed broke Andy twice...still its a respectable score.

I still think Andy is going to win this...

I need to find something else to do on this fine afternoon; I cannot spend it watching these 2 trying so hard to hand the set to each other.....even Canada's Wonderland would be preferable.

Well only judging from the scoreboard that first set seems to give no guide at all as to what might happen the rest of this match. Talk about up and down...

First set Murray. Well, as Federer fans know, winning the first set ain't a guarantee of anything. Federer seems a bit like the player of 2002 who had lots of options on his shots and couldn't pick the right one. Murray is floating a lot of balls back, and Federer is overcooking a lot of those FHs. It happened in the 15-0 point in game 1 - Federer had an open court FH and netted it. Onwards.

That set was a cruel tease. Federer expends a lot more energy than a 6-1 set would have produced, but he still loses. I can't complain about the way the set unfolded; Murray earned that break at 5-all with awesome defense. Sure, some huge individual brain cramps from Roger on select points, but the ballstriking and quality are generally pretty solid.

In New York, I'd still like Fed's chances in a best-o'-fiver. (But I want Rafa on Sunday, Sept. 12 at 4:50 p.m. ET on CBS.)

Murray does what Djokovic didn't do on the last point of last nite's match. After driving the ball deep into Federer's BH corner, follows shot into net and blocks volley into open court.

From that position in court, Federer isn't going to hurt top opponents with his BH. Gotta get to net, like Murray did.

It was closer than I thought. Roger, forget everything you were doing in that last two games, would you?

C'mon Pinky...remember the Master Plan!

Tim - get off it - Roger is fighting - he'll always fight - that is what makes him a great Champion.

Just hope he keeps focus as the match progresses - got to keep his wits about him at all times facing Murray.

Plus it would be wonderful if Fed could find his first & second serve at ALL times for the remainder of the match.

Come On Pink Panther - start Panthering about!

There was the attacking Fed...long time almost 5 days ago...if I recall. Back in those days...5 days ago...or so...

YAL,

I don't mean any disrespect...just heat of the moment and all that. But you would expect a 16 GS champion to get a ball over the net at an important point.

After the 3-0, I should be happy that it ended 7-5, but that was bad and WTF-like.

Tim (Outlaw the Moonpie!)

Oh no, he won't! You be quiet, buddy. Cincy is for Rafa and Toronto is for Fed. It's nice to share. If Fed wins here and reaches QF next week, he doesn't lose any point from last year, btw. Fed needs to stop messing around and beat this Muzz., right here, right now.

Love me some Lenny Kravitz...."I want to fly away" .....GO MUZZ!!!!!!!

Murray is taking lessons from his friend Rafa...thats not what Rafa had in mind when he said "keep the crowd entertained, no"

Now I have been predicting One-in-a-row...

Fed is going to break right away...scintillating play to come. Watch it.

Matt losing 6-1 sets is not good for the confidence, knowing Rog's attitude, he will find the upside, and know the deal, he's had a great week, this is not a big problem at all, fatigue has to be an issue, and this wont happen at a Slam with days off between ...

But Murray won this last year and hobbled out of the US Open with a whimper, so who knows what it means? it in a way only adds pressure to him, and Fed can still kinda fly under the radar, with people dismissing him as over the hill ...

Whatever happens, I'm satisfied, Roger's had a good week.

Yeah. There were some terrible misses from both the sides.
Once the rally gets going though, this is my favorite match-up to watch on the ATP side -- second only to Fed-Nalby probably.

TripleF,

If only the scintillating play is consistent, then its of some use.

I missed the coin toss today - but maybe those of you who are more familiar with the traditions of the Rogers Cup can explain why the PA system plays "Tubular Bells" (theme from the Exorcist) at the coin toss? If that's a tradition here, I LOVE it.

Is the scoreboard stuck or is there a pause in play for some reason?

I am so sick of the commies saying "what a nice guy Roger is"; I wish Roger would do something really nasty one day just so people stop syaing that.

We are so used to ill behaved, over indulged athletes that one who is normal and appropriate gets labelled "so nice".

Flyer - I couldn't have said it better myself re your 2:46 "Plus it would be wonderful if Fed could find his first & second serve at ALL times for the remainder of the match" C'mon let's keep your own service games nice and easy with no more brancramps!

ladyjulia
My mojo is over at TO right now. Need not worry. This is going to be a marathon match. And Fed will come through.

Fed...please break..and play as well as u did against Berdych? And keep Fred locked down. Wrong time to bring him out.

Roger looks as if he stuck his head under the cold tap when he was off the court - never seen that before. Hope it helps!

me too very happy with the week and I like Murray's game for the most part, so its all good ... so glad ESPN is showing a blowout EXHIBITION basekball game, US up by 30 points lol instead of live Masters finale, in their overhypes US Open Series nonsense...taped finals do not impress in this day and age of instant news, scores, etc.,

TripleF,

From your thoughts to tennis g-o-d-s.

Texastennis:
It's Andy serving at 15 all 0-1 in the second set

Tina, not aware of any tradition about music; must be a sound guy with a devious sense of humour!!!

espn3 is available now.