Fernando Verdasco battled back from the brink of a shock exit to reach the third round of the Australian Open.
Spaniard saves three match points to reach the third round
Fernando Verdasco battled back from the brink of a shock exit to reach the third round of the Australian Open.
The Spanish ninth seed had to save three match points in the fourth set before going on to secure a 2-6 4-6 6-4 7-6 (7-0) 6-0 win over Janko Tipsarevic.
Having been so close to an upset, Serbia's Tipsarevic then crumbled as he picked up just five points after forcing the fourth-set tie-breaker.
Verdasco's reward for the thrilling win is a third-round clash with Kei Nishikori, with the young Japanese player beating Florian Mayer 6-4 6-3 0-6 6-3.
Andy Roddick also faced a few uncomfortable moments before the eighth seed finally saw off Igor Kunitsyn 7-6 (9-7) 6-2 6-3.
And Roddick was pleased with the way he performed against the Russian.
"It could have got uncomfortable if that first set had got away," he said.
Easy
"You always try to convince yourself it is a good thing to get through a tough set like that, but going into the match, if you're given an option, you want it to be as easy as possible every time.
"I feel like I'm hitting the ball fine. I'm serving very well, controlling the match with that right now. That's always a good thing for me."
It was a good start to the day for the seeds at Melbourne Park with Tomas Berdych, Ivan Ljubicic and Richard Gasquet.
Sixth seed Berdych, the 2010 Wimbledon finalist, overcame a slow start to beat Philipp Kohlschreiber 4-6 6-2 6-3 6-4.
Berdych will now face Gasquet after the 28th seeded Frenchman beat countryman Adrian Mannarino in straight sets, while 17th seed Ljubicic saw off Benoit Paire 6-3 6-7 (2-7) 6-4 7-6 (7-5).
It was all plain sailing for the ranked players, though, as Mardy Fish let a good start slip to crash out to Tommy Robredo. The 16th seed opened up brilliantly to take the first set 6-1 however the Spaniard responded to rattle off the next three sets 6-3 6-3 6-3.
