By: CHRISTOPHER CLAREY

Gaël Monfils very nearly did enough to break up the all-star coaches reunion.

Mixing speeds, spins and bright ideas in the gusting winds that are part of the Arthur Ashe Stadium experience, he won the first two sets against Roger Federer.

Monfils, rarely losing focus for a change, hardly stopped there, earning himself two match points on Federer’s serve in the 10th game of the fourth set.

But the standing ovation that soon followed would be for Federer, and when this plot-twisting United States Open quarterfinal reached its conclusion shortly before midnight, Federer had typed another exclamation point into the story of his resurgent season, rallying to win 4-6, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5, 6-2 in 3 hours and 20 minutes, brisk for a five-set match.

“I feel lucky to be able to do a press conference as the winner instead of the loser,” Federer said later. “But I’m also proud that I fought and stayed with him. The problem was that I was just one point from the end.”

Federer has now come back to win on nine occasions from a two-set deficit, but he has been more the ultimate tennis artist than the ultimate escape artist.

Thursday night was the first time in his record-filled career that he has rallied from match point down in singles to win in a Grand Slam tournament.

“The margins are so, so slim at that point,” Federer said. “It’s not really in your control really anymore. He needs one net cord or something so silly. When guys wish you good luck before the match, that’s when you hope it’s gonna kick in.”

Kick in it did, and while Monfils has the stuff of a showman, Federer – even at age 33 with millions of dollars and 17 major singles titles in the bank – still has the desire of a champion. Instead of Monfils making a late breakthrough, it will be Federer making a return to the semifinals for the first time since 2011.

He won the first two sets against Federer despite rolling his right ankle while changing direction in the second game of the second set. But he continued without apparent difficulty after being examined by a trainer on the next changeover. Meanwhile, Federer was the one looking sluggish despite his attempts to push forward. His repeated attempts to drop shot the speedy Monfils looked more like wishful thinking than clear thinking.

Monfils’s difficult-to-read blend of offense and defense, of raw power and conservative shotmaking, was also making it tough for Federer to find his bearings. And though the Swiss did lift his game to win the third set with the big, boisterous crowd audibly in his corner, Monfils then managed to shake off an early break of serve in the fourth by breaking back to 2-2.

Chance of a lifetime

But Monfils’s biggest break could have come with Federer serving to stay in the match at 4-5. Federer quickly fell behind 15-40 after making two forehand unforced errors and looking as if he would again go out of the tournament meekly, just as he had last year in straight sets against Tommy Robredo of Spain, another veteran he had long dominated.

Federer won five straight U.S. Open titles from 2004 to 2008, but the tournament has lately become a place that has brought him more pain than joy.

It was here in cavernous, blustery Ashe Stadium that he lost a lead against Juan Martin del Potro in the 2009 final; here that he cracked after holding two match points of his own against Novak Djokovic in back-to-back semifinals in 2010 and 2011.

But Federer has been playing with renewed verve and confidence throughout the summer — reaching the final in Wimbledon and winning Cincinnati — and in a time of deep tennis trouble, he managed to come up with solutions.

He did it by sticking to the Edberg playbook and staying aggressive. On the first match point, Federer ripped a fine first serve wide that would have been a winner against less agile opposition. But Monfils lunged to his right and put the return in play as Federer swooped forward and hit a swinging forehand volley in midcourt. The shot was not a clean winner but it did force Monfils to stretch for his two-handed backhand passing shot, one of his best weapons throughout the evening. But this passing shot under duress sailed long.

On the second match point, Monfils held up his hand with Federer preparing to serve, forcing him to reload. But the Swiss calmly slammed another first serve into play, which Monfils read correctly and sliced deep with his forehand.

Monfils then retreated several steps as Federer lined up his forehand, which he struck crosscourt. Monfils, now far behind the baseline, reached it but hit a weak forehand that bounced inside the service box. Federer pounced and hit a forehand winner down the line.

Crisis averted, and when Federer won the next two points to get to 5-5, many in the crowd rose to their feet and applauded. “He really played the match points well,” Monfils said. “I had the feeling I couldn’t do much.”

Regrets aplenty

Monfils may regret not playing the second one more aggressively, and he will definitely regret serving two double faults to lose his serve in the next game and allow Federer to serve successfully for the fourth set.

“I felt I had more chances throughout the fourth than he did, so it would have been an unbelievable letdown for me to get broken at 5-4 and lose a match like that,” Federer said.

The rest, to borrow a French word, was dénouement, as Monfils, understandably rattled, lost his serve to start the fifth and Federer started rolling in earnest with the crowd at his back and the once tricky wind now a whisper.