MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Second seed Roger Federer survived a first set scare before he ramped up his performance and advanced safely to the third round of the Australian Open with a 3-6 6-3 6-2 6-2 victory over Italian journeyman Simone Bolelli on Wednesday.
Federer initially looked out of sorts against the 29-year-old Italian, who was perhaps feeding off the energy Alexandra Panova generated in almost beating women’s second seed Maria Sharapova immediately before their match on Rod Laver Arena.
The 33-year-old Swiss seized his opportunity to turn the momentum of the match in the eighth game of the second set when he broke Bolelli for the first time, which was followed by a massive bellow of ‘come on’.
Federer had been awarded the match when a Bolelli shot was called long at 5-1 in the fourth set, but the Italian correctly challenged and the point was replayed though it only delayed the inevitable as the 17-time grand slam winner then served it out.
(Reporting by Greg Stutchbury- Editing by John O’Brien)
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