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Men’s top seed Roger Federer says he is happy with his first round performance at Australian Open 2010 despite a shaky start that saw him drop a set against Russia’s Igor Andreev at Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday.
The three-time Australian Open champion overcame a spirited challenge from Andreev to progress to the second round with a 4-6 6-2 7-6(2) 6-0 win.
Federer took two hours and 44 minutes to finally overcome a fighting effort from the world No. 37, but he said he was pleased with his match throughout.
“It was a tough match. I knew from the start it wasn’t going to be an easy one,” he said.
“But I reacted and I think I played a very good match.”
The world No. 1 looked strong early in the first set, breaking Andreev’s serve and racing out to a 3-1 lead.
However, Andreev, looking to emulate the efforts of girlfriend Maria Kirilenko and produce a massive upset at Melbourne Park after Kirilenko defeated Maria Sharapova on Monday, broke back and leveled the set at 3-3 before breaking Federer late in the set and holding to take it 6-4.
Federer’s frustration grew late in the first set, and sporadic errors on straightforward forehands had the Rod Laver Arena crowd sensing a possible upset.
The Swiss put those thoughts somewhat to rest in the second set, dominating Andreev and taking it 6-2 to even the match at 1-1.
Much of the centre court crowd probably expected that the third set would see Federer increase his dominance from the second and push on towards victory, but the Russian refused to allow Federer to run away with the match, and broke to lead 2-1 early in the set.
Federer broke straight back, and the Russian’s unreliable first service cost him dearly as Federer took a 5-3 lead and looked to close out the set.
Two service breaks in a row from Andreev sparked the crowd into life, and all of a sudden, the Russian was serving for the third set.
The 12th game of the set was a story of missed opportunities for Andreev, and it would be a crucial part of the match as he failed to capitalise on three set points.
Federer pounced and forced the tie-break, dominating it 7-2 before grabbing a 2-0 lead in the fourth set that could so easily have been Andreev’s.
The pressure told on Andreev in the fourth set, as Federer was untroubled in claiming it 6-0 to advance to the second round.
Federer admitted that the end of the third set was a key time in the match.
“It was just one of those moments where anything can happen ... after that, he may have just been that one step slower than he had been,” Federer said.
The top seed will now face Juan Ignacio Chela or Victor Hanescu in round two.
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