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Page 2B SPORTS East Oregonian Wednesday, August 30, 2017 Tennis Federer overcomes slow start, late lapse to win at U.S. Open By HOWARD FENDRICH Associated Press NEW YORK — Roger Federer already has dropped two more sets at the U.S. Open than he did during his entire two weeks en route to the title at Wimbledon. Worried about a recent back problem that kept him from getting ready the way he usually does for a Grand Slam tournament, Federer had to overcome an early deficit and a late lapse Tuesday night to edge 19-year-old American Frances Tiafoe 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, 1-6, 6-4 in a compelling first-round contest under the Arthur Ashe Stadium roof. “I didn’t have the prepa- ration I was hoping to get,” Federer said. “I always knew I was going to come in feeling rusty or not great.” The No. 3-seeded Federer, whose most recent of five championships at Flushing Meadows came in 2008, got broken in the first game and dropped the opening set of the topsy-turvy match. He then appeared to take control by grabbing eight of nine games to seize the second and third sets. But he let that lead slip away. There was more trouble when Federer served for the match leading 5-3 in the fifth and got broken. “I was quite up and down,” Federer said, acknowledging that he was cautious with his footwork and had some trouble seeing the ball properly. Tiafoe’s take: “He won by the skin of his teeth.” Federer’s initial match point came at 5-3, 40-30, but Tiafoe staved that off, then broke. He produced a AP Photo/Julio Cortez Roger Federer, of Switzerland, celebrates after defeat- ing Frances Tiafoe, of the United States, at the U.S. Open tennis tournament, Tuesday in New York. cross-court forehand winner at an unbelievable angle to earn the chance, before converting it with a terrific forehand passing winner down the line. Tiafoe roared and pumped a fist and sprinted to the sideline for the changeover. When he had to come back out and serve, Tiafoe was a bit flat. Federer wasted his second match point with a netted backhand. On the third — with Federer’s wife, Mirka, covering her eyes in the stands — Tiafoe hit a stumbling forehand into the net. “In these best-of-five-set matches,” Federer said, “you have a lot of lives some- times.” It was Federer’s 79th career victory at the U.S. Open, equaling Andre Agassi for second-most. Only Jimmy Connors has more, with 98. Federer played with the roof shut at Ashe for the first time. He missed last year’s tournament, when the retractable cover made its debut, because he took off the second half of 2016 to let his surgically repaired left knee and a bad back fully heal. “It felt like people were happy to see me again,” Federer said. In 2017, he is 36-3 with five titles, including the Australian Open and Wimbledon, where Federer won every set he played across seven matches while collecting his record eighth trophy at the All England Club and 19th Grand Slam championship overall. For more than a half-hour Tuesday, it appeared as if Federer was still dealing with the after-effects of having tweaked his back during a loss in the hard-court final at Montreal this month. He sat out the following week’s tournament at Cincinnati. At least, Federer said, his back was not in pain Tuesday. “My hope and my belief is that it’s only going to get better from here,” Federer said. BUCKAROOS: Go up against Camp’s old team, La Grande, in season-opener on Friday Continued from 1B AP Photo/Patrick Semansky Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Dylan Bundy throws to the Seattle Mariners during the seventh inning of Tuesday’s game in Baltimore. MARINERS: Miranda starts on Wednesday Continued from 1B big leagues, but he has a great idea of what he needs to do to the hitters out there,” Castillo said. “He’s really smart and has an idea about how to get a hitter out.” Baltimore has outscored its opponents 44-17 during the winning streak. The Orioles also moved 1 ½ games ahead of the Mari- ners in the AL wild-card race. Minnesota currently holds the second wild-card slot. Schoop collected his 29th homer of the season and 500th career hit with a solo shot in the first off Erasmo Ramirez (5-5). Schoop’s blast moved him ahead of Machado for the team lead, but not for long. Machado hit his 29th homer in the sixth and reached 30 homers for the third consecutive season with his drive in the eighth off Casey Lawrence. Bundy, who threw 116 pitches, struck out Danny Valencia for the fourth time to finish off his first career complete game. “He was outstanding, obviously,” Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. “That was fun to watch. Especially when you think about everything that was at stake for both clubs.” In his fifth start since being acquired from Tampa Bay on July 28, Ramirez allowed two runs and five hits over six innings. Castillo led off the seventh with a homer off James Pazos. “Bundy was outstanding,” said Seattle manager Scott Servais, whose team has lost four straight. “He had good stuff and executed his game plan against us. He was all over different quadrants with the strike zone and we had nothing going offensively. We have talked often on this road trip that we have to hit and score runs and we haven’t done that the last three or four days, for the most part.” The start of the game was delayed 32 minutes because of rain. NICE CATCH, DAD Machado’s homer to left-center in the sixth was corralled by a fan with a smiling baby strapped to his chest. The man danced, raised the ball above his head and was greeted with high-fives. ROSTER MOVE Bundy was reinstated from the bereavement list following the death of his grandmother and LHP Donnie Hart was optioned to Triple-A Norfolk. TRAINER’S ROOM Mariners: OF Jarrod Dyson (groin) could not do any pregame work because of rain. He still could come off the DL over the next few days. Orioles: J.J. Hardy (wrist) homered Monday in his seventh rehab appear- ance for Triple-A Norfolk. He is batting .263 with three RBIs. The Tides were rained out Tuesday. UP NEXT Mariners: Ariel Miranda (8-6, 4.62 ERA) will make his team-leading 27th start. The left-handed Cuban pitched one game out of the bullpen for Baltimore last season before being traded for Wade Miley. Orioles: Ubaldo Jimenez (5-9, 6.57 ERA) has lost his past two starts, allowing 11 runs and 17 hits. Jimenez is 2-4 with a 6.50 ERA in eight career starts against Seattle. feels very comfortable in the Buckaroos’ scheme. “I really like linebacker because I’m closer to the football,” he said. “I don’t have to wait on a pass first like back at safety, I can be up there in run support and stuff.” His exact role on the offense, though, is still trying to be figured out by Davis and the coaching staff. Camp is currently battling with junior Trent Sorey for the backup quarterback job behind senior Nick Bower, but Davis hinted Tuesday that Camp could be used as a pass catcher as well. “You may see him at receiver or a little bit of tight end, too, you just never know,” Davis said. “(Camp’s) a versatile athlete that needs to be on the foot- ball field somewhere.” Camp says that while he would surely love to be the one spinning passes all over the field this season, he knows that Bower is the guy at QB and just wants to contribute what ever he can to help Pendleton win. “I just want to help our team,” he said. “I know it’s been a little while since we’ve made the playoffs, so Staff photo by Eric Singer Pendleton junior Willie Camp (center) wraps up a Buckaroo ball carrier during Tues- day’s practice in Pendleton. Camp transferred to Pendleton from La Grande this summer, and will start as an outside linebacker Week 1. I just want to help us make the playoffs and win some games and see how far we can take this because I think we have a real special team.” And as luck would have it, Camp’s first game wearing the green-and-gold will be against his old team, the La Grande Tigers, on Friday night. He admitted that there has been plenty of talk between his old teammates over the past few weeks, but hopes to treat it like any other game. “I’m just trying every week to help us get a win,” he said. “It doesn’t matter who we’re playing, we’re just trying to work harder than the other team and get a win at the end of the day.” ———— Contact Eric Singer at esinger@eastoregonian. com or 541-966-0839. Follow him on Twitter @ByEricSinger. PAC-12: Stanford played opener vs. Rice in Australia Continued from 1B they’ll host No. 14 Stanford and No. 23 Texas. “We learned from last year how important it is to start fast. You can do all you want in October and November, and we’ve been really good, but if you don’t start fast, it’s hard to get where you want to be. It’s going to be critical for us to open up those three ballgames and be hitting on all three cylinders,” coach Clay Helton said. WEEK ZERO: Oregon State’s game against Colo- rado State last weekend was originally scheduled for Sept 23. But it was moved up to Week Zero to accommodate Colorado State, which wanted to open the season in the team’s new stadium. It was the earliest start in Oregon State history and it was not kind to the Beavers, who fell 58-27 to the Rams. Coach Gary Andersen said he thinks the schedule overall works out in Oregon State’s favor because the Beavers will get a bye before facing No. 8 Washington and USC in consecutive weeks. “For this team, where the byes lie for us, I think it’s a positive. It makes it a week longer season, but hopefully that week will help us,” Andersen said. Oregon State will face another team this weekend that got off to an early start, the Portland State Vikings, who are coming off a 20-6 loss at BYU. THIS WEEK IN THE PAC-12 AGAINST COLO- RADO STATE: It’s Colo- rado’s turn . The Buffs open the season with the Rocky Mountain Showdown against their in-state rivals at the home of the NFL’s Denver Broncos. It’s also one of those Friday night games. “There’s not a lot of games on that night. That makes it special for our players. Playing in Broncos stadium, the kids love playing in the pro stadium. It’s a unique atmosphere. I think there were almost 70,000 last year (69,850). I think there should be over 70,000 this year. So it will be loud and exciting,” Buffs coach Mike MacIntyre said. MORE WEEK ZERO, FROM FAR, FAR AWAY: Stanford started the season in a dramatic way, traveling all the way to Australia to play Rice and coming home with a 62-7 victory. Last season it was Cal that got the goodwill trip to Sydney, where they beat Hawaii. It was Stanford’s second game outside the United States: in 1986 the Cardinal beat Arizona in Tokyo. Coach David Shaw said the players had a blast on the trip — despite the long flight. “I think it would be great for this tradition to continue, whether it’s just our conference or maybe other conferences, but hopefully more teams are open for it,” Shaw said. The Cardinal now get a bye before visiting USC on Sept. 9. HOME GAMES GALORE: The Washington State Cougars have five straight home games to open the season, then only two more the rest of the way. The Cougars will face Montana State, Boise State, Oregon State, Nevada and USC in succession at Martin Stadium. The two other home games will be Oct. 21 against Colorado and Nov. 4 against Stanford. “I think it’s great for the folks out here, you know, to really get in the habit of getting to games, so we’re excited about that,” coach Mike Leach said when asked about the schedule. “I’ll know more about what I think about it at the end of the season.” COLLEGE SUNDAY? The UCLA Bruins will kick off their season Sunday at the Rose Bowl against Texas A&M. PREPS: Heppner, Weston-McEwen volleyball teams each earn two sweeps Continued from 1B GIRLS SOCCER UMATILLA 3, MAC-HI 3 (tie) UMATILLA — Celeste Rodriguez scored two goals and Devina Monreal added one more as their Umatilla Vikings drew a 3-3 tie with the Mac-Hi Pioneers on Tuesday afternoon. “It was a fun match,” Umatilla coach Tim Lee said. “Our fitness level is still on the upswing ... we got tired early and Mac-Hi battled back, but we still saw some good things.” Rodriguez and Monreal traded goals as the Vikings (0-1-1) took a 2-0 lead early, but Mac-Hi (0-1-1) scored two to tie the game up before the half. The Pioneers scored a go-head goal out of the break, but the Vikings tied the game on Rodriguez’s second of the game. Lee said the Vikings had a few opportunities to take a lead, but couldn’t finish the kicks. “We’ll look at what we did well,” Lee said. “It was a step in the right direction.” Umatilla stays home for its next game when it hosts Pendleton on Saturday at Noon, and Mac-Hi will travel to Walla Walla (WA) on Friday at 4 p.m. VOLLEYBALL HEPPNER SWEEPS TWICE DUFUR — The Heppner Mustangs picked up a pair of victories on Tuesday after- noon, sweeping both the Dufur Rangers and Vernonia Loggers 3-0 in Dufur. Against the home Dufur team, Heppner (3-2) won 25-12, 25-18, 25-12 and then beat Vernonia 25-23, 25-16, 25-16. Stats were not available for the Dufur match, but against Vernonia it was Nicole Propheter that led the Mustangs with eight kills and Jacee Currin had five, while Sydney Wilson led with 16 digs. As a team, Heppner was a stellar 94 percent on its serves and Madison Combe led the team with seven aces. “Everything seemed to fall into place today for these girls,” Heppner coach Mindy Wilson said. “They continue to work on the little things and are improving daily.” The Mustangs next host the Heppner Tournament on Saturday morning. WESTON-MCEWEN WINS TWO HELIX — After a tough weekend in John Day, the Weston-McEwen TigerScots got back on the winning side of things with a pair of wins over Helix and Enterprise on Tuesday. First up against Enter- prise, the TigerScots (4-1) worked quickly and won 25-17, 25-9 and 25-13 and then came back against Helix (3-1) to win 25-22, 25-14 and 25-9. “I thought these were our best matches to date,” Weston-McEwen coach Shawn White said. “We had a lot of improvement from the last time we played from execution. Still some areas to work on, obviously, but I thought we played much better.” Bryce Thul had a standout night for the TigerScots picking up a team-high 33 assists while adding 13 digs, 11 aces, seven kills and four blocks. Alyssa Finifrock led the team with 23 kills and 12 aces, while Hailey Weaver had 13 kills and Maddi Muilenburg had nine. Emma Olson also had a solid night with 12 digs and was 23-26 from the serving stripe with two aces. For Helix, the Grizzlies rebounded to beat Enterprise 3-0 as well, winning 25-19, 25-22 and 25-22. Weston-McEwen next plays at home against Union on Thursday at 4 p.m. Helix will host Stanfield on Thursday at 4 p.m. and Mac-Hi at 5:30 p.m. for another tri-match.