rogerfederer.com - Through in five sets

Through in five sets

Roger needed five sets and over 3 hours to win his second-round match 6-2, 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 6-3 at the Australian Open against Gilles Simon today.

"Matches against him don't come easy, it's the first win I've had," Roger said. "Today I got lucky, I was happy I won."

Things worked fine for Roger as he ripped through the first two sets in just 68 minutes. Then, Simon broke twice to take a 3-0 lead in set number three, but Roger also broke twice before he then had his serve broken once more as the Frenchman held on to win the set. Simon was the only player to break serve in the fourth set, taking the match into a fifth.

In the decider, Roger converted a break point in the sixth game to take a 4-2 lead. He later gained another three break points to end the match, but Simon saved all of them to force our champ to serve for the match. Roger had to work for the victory all the way up to the end and was finally able to make use of match point number 5, closing the match with an ace.

Roger will play Belgium's Xavier Malisse (ATP 45) in the third round. Roger leads the head-to-head 7:1. The one defeat goes back 12 years in a Davis Cup encounter.