Federer rattled but survives on day of scares

Novak Djokovic

MELBOURNE,  (Reuters) – Roger Federer summoned up his  very best tennis to see off inspired Frenchman Gilles Simon over  five sets yesterday and reach the third round of the  Australian Open on a day of scares at Melbourne Park.

Roger Federer

On another cool day at the year’s first grand slam, there  was a major fright for injured Venus Williams and minor wobbles  for Novak Djokovic and Maria Sharapova.

Defending champion Federer came face-to-face with the real  possibility of his earliest grand slam exit since the 2003  French Open before finally overcoming tiring baseline hustler  Simon 6-2 6-3 4-6 4-6 6-3.

Three days of tennis had almost been completed without a  single upset of note and the early exchanges indicated that it  would not come in yesterday’s final match on Rod Laver Arena.

Federer breezed through the first two sets in 68 minutes  before Simon, a notoriously slow starter, finally got into his  stride and showed why he is one of only three active players to  have a winning record against the Swiss.

Maria Sharapova

A former world number six only now getting back to full  speed after knee problems, Simon raced around the court to chase  down Federer’s best shots and return them with interest from  both sides.

Federer was clearly rattled but embraced the challenge and  upped his own pace to break for 4-2 in the final set before  taking his place in the third round with an emphatic ace after  three and a quarter hours.

GOT LUCKY

“He’s a great player first of all, so matches against him  don’t come easy,” said Federer, who beat Simon for the first  time in three meetings.

“It was great to play against him, I really enjoyed myself  out here tonight. I remained positive and I said ‘I’ve worked  hard my entire life, it’s gonna pay off’ and look, today I got  lucky, I was happy I won and I’m still in the tournament.”

Simon cursed his luck at having to meet Federer so early in the  tournament and admitted he had tired in the fifth set.

“I had to run everywhere for three hours,” he said. “There  are not too many players who can play longer than me, but Roger  is one of them.”

Novak Djokovic

Serbian Djokovic, the men’s third seed and champion here in  2008, was also forced to scrap it out with little-known Ivan  Dodig on the Hisense arena before prevailing 7-5 6-7 6-0 6-2.

Dodig’s dogged returns forced Djokovic out of his baseline  comfort zone and the first two sets were a tight contest that  culminated with the Croatian roaring in delight at his victory  in the tiebreaker to level the contest.

That was the extent of the world number 81’s challenge,  however, and Djokovic took control of the contest to set up a  third-round meeting with compatriot Viktor Troicki.

“I was challenged, pushed to the limits in the first two  sets,” said Djokovic. “Definitely wasn’t my best. But in third  and fourth it was okay.” Williams, returning to action here for the first time since  last year’s U.S. Open, was severely hampered by a strained  muscle but still managed to scramble a 6-7 6-0 6-4 victory over  Sandra Zahlavova.

BITTER END

The seven-times grand slam winner took a medical timeout  after losing the first set tiebreak and then gritted her teeth  to grind out a victory in a shade over three hours.

“It was really tough,” said Williams, flying the family flag  alone this year in the absence of injured 2010 champion Serena.

“You’ve got to be able play in all circumstances — good,  bad strange, weird, bizarre. I haven’t retired from a match in a  long time. I have to go to the bitter end.”

Top women’s seed Caroline Wozniacki earlier looked in fine  fettle as she took just 58 minutes to overpower American Vania  King 6-1 6-0.

“I definitely felt like I was playing good tennis today,”  20-year-old Wozniacki said, adding: “I believe that I’m a really  good player, I can beat anyone on a good day.”

Justine Henin, seeded a lowly 11th, was shaking hands with  the umpire on Rod Laver Arena moments after Wozniacki clinched  her win, having put Briton Elena Baltacha to the sword 6-1 6-3.

Sharapova survived an early scare to rally to a 7-6 6-3  victory over France’s Virginie Razzano, the 2008 champion  raising the decibel levels as well as her game.
“It was my first time to play her and I didn’t know she  cried like this,” Razzano told Reuters, referring to Sharapova’s  deafening shrieks. “It was difficult but I got used to it.”

Vesna Manasieva prevailed 3-6 6-3 6-0 in another  Franco-Russian encounter against Marion Bartoli, the French 15th  seed the highest ranked casualty at the tournament so far.

Men’s former world number five Tommy Robredo also registered  something of an upset with a 1-6 6-3 6-3 6-3 victory over  American 16th seed Mardy Fish.