Scenes from Queens: 24 Hours to Remember

Labor Day weekend began with a bang at Flushing Meadows, with four memorable matches—as well as a win by Roger Federer. Here's a look back in photos, taken by Anita Aguilar, at an action-packed 24 hours at the U.S. Open.

Bethanie Mattek-Sands was ranked just 101st, but she embraced the night-match atmosphere and the challenge of going toe to toe with Serena Williams.

Mattek-Sands played all out all night, but it wasn’t quite enough. “When she’s on fire and she’s ripping the ball,” Mattek-Sands said of Serena, “it’s just out of reach.”

But she was good enough to earn Serena’s applause.

By the end, though, Serena wasn’t clapping with her racquet; she was belting winners with it, even from a sitting, and splitting, position.

“I feel like if I’m not playing well,” Serena said after her 3-6, 7-5, 6-0 win, “I know I can take it to another level...I just try to tap into the energy and play better.”

“I mean, the atmosphere out there was awesome,” Mattek-Sands said. “It’s so cool playing on Arthur Ashe, night match. That’s just the best atmosphere you could dream of.”

Later that night, Rafael Nadal leapt out to a two-set lead over Fabio Fognini...

...but watched in horror as it vanished over the course of nearly four hours.

Fognini stood his ground and took the initiative in the rallies. “With Rafa, you have to do that,” he said.

The Italian, who had beaten Nadal twice this year already, kept pressing his case. He finished with 70 winners to Nadal's 30.

“It was a great honor for me to have Tiger [Woods] in my box,” Nadal said. “I don’t have idols, but that’s the closest thing I have: him.”

It’s been that kind of year for Rafa. His 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 defeat was the first time in 151 matches that he had lost after building a two-set lead at a Grand Slam.

The fans in Ashe did what they could to help...

...and Rafa did what he could to fight off Fognini's firepower in the fifth. “Was amazing support out there,” Nadal said. “Just very special feeling to be out there with that support.”

Nadal hadn’t lost before the semifinals at the U.S. Open since 2007. The crowd didn't want to let him go so early.

But this guy was happy to stick around. "Was something incredible I did today," Fognini said afterward.

Fognini at the moment of victory. What's Italian for “How ya like me now?”

On Saturday, Donald Young was down and out for two sets. He trailed Viktor Troicki 6-4, 6-0, and had to get some help for a lower-back problem.

The sun seemed to be setting on Young, and on the Grandstand as well. Young and Troicki were playing what may be the last men’s singles match on the court. Built as part of the Singer Bowl for the 1964 World’s Fair, the compact, 6,000-seat arena was the Open’s second-largest show court from 1978 to 1997, before dropping to No. 3 with the construction of Arthur Ashe Stadium. There are few better places in the world to watch, or hear, a tennis match. When it goes, a part of the Open’s old atmosphere will go with it.

Young helped draw a packed, festive, vocally pro-American Labor Day weekend audience.

Afterward, Young said his 4-6, 0-6, 7-6 (3), 6-2, 6-4 win was “90 percent you guys, 10 percent me.”

While Young was staging his second comeback from two sets down this week, Troicki was losing his third match this season from two sets up. He looks like he can see what’s coming here.

Is the 26-year-old Young finally ready to fulfill the promise of a decade ago, when he was the world’s No. 1-ranked junior at 16?

“I’m not where I want to be yet,” DY said afterward, “but I’m getting there.”

Roger Federer was in action as well on Saturday, but happily for him, things went quietly. He beat Philipp Kohlschreiber in straight sets to continue his incident-free march into the second week.

Federer has made news at the Open with his use of the SABR return of serve—that’s Sneak Attack by Roger, if you’re wondering, as coined by his team. Federer, as you can see here, launches himself into his opponent’s second serve and half-volleys it on his way to the net. He hasn’t decided yet whether to try it in his next match, against the game’s biggest server, John Isner.

Federer’s own serve has been mostly flawless lately. He had held 72 straight times coming into Saturday, before Kohlschreiber broke him.

Has the 34-year-old lost any height on his forehand leap

Federer wasn’t the only player on Ashe who could grab some air...

...or put together a picturesque one-handed backhand.

But he was the one who was doing most of the attacking.

On Friday, Fognini and Nadal staged the match of the men’s event. On Saturday, Victoria Azarenka and Angelique Kerber gave them a run for their money on the women's side.

You don’t need to see this player’s face to know who’s hitting this shot. Few go to the lengths, or the depths, that Kerber does to win a point.

Winning the battle, but losing the war. Kerber got the better of this point, but Vika won the match 7-5, 2-6, 6-4. It was a taut and fervid encounter throughout.

Kerber put everything into this backhand...

...while Azarenka prepared to power through this forehand.

Kerber, fists clenched, urged herself on...

And then, hands raised, urged the crowd on.

“Every moment was intense and tough,” Azarenka said. “She was pushing me, I was pushing her. From both sides it was just head to head. It was amazing.”

Most amazing to Vika, of course, was the moment of victory. Is this the match that, finally, after a year of effort, lifts her back into the game’s upper echelon?

The German went for a handshake, but the Belarussian pulled her in for a hug.

It has been nice over the last couple of days seeing three players—Mattek-Sands, Fognini, and Kerber—get a taste of Ashe Stadium, enjoy it, and live up to its challenge.