No. 2 Federer rallies from two sets down to win five-set thriller at Australian Open

Three-time champion Roger Federer (pictured) came from two-sets-to-love down to defeat No. 20 Tomas Berdych, 4-6, 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-4, 6-2, on Sunday to reach the quarterfinals of the Australian Open in Melbourne for the sixth consecutive year. A 13-time Grand Slam singles champion, Federer has now reached an impressive 19 straight quarterfinals in majors.

Second-seeded Federer struggled to find his form right from the start as Berdych broke in the first and fifth games of the opening set. Federer tried to close the gap as he broke serve at 1-4, but the 23-year-old Czech would eventually close out the first set with a huge ace.

In the second set, the former World No. 1 jumped out to a 2-0 lead before getting broken due to many unforced errors. The second set was decided in a tiebreak and after the score was leveled at 4-4, Berdych separated himself from Federer by winning three straight points to win the set in 48-minutes.

After surrendering an early lead in the beginning of the third set and exchanging service breaks in the middle of the set, it was a sloppy seventh game by Berdych that gave Federer the momentum for good. After blowing five game points and missing three easy wide-open volleys, Federer would break and eventually win the set, 6-4, in 45-minutes.

In an exciting 49-minute fourth set, Federer broke Berdych to start the set and never looked back. The Czech, who earlier in the match was ripping flat forehand and backhand winners one after another, began to play more conservative and started hitting many unforced errors. Berdych also received a medical timeout due to an upper thigh injury that has hampered him recently. Up 5-4 and serving to level the match at two sets all, Federer played several loose points to give Berdych a break point opportunity, but the Czech was unable to capitalize as Federer fired numerous big serves to send the match into a deciding set.

Wasting no time in the final set, Federer quickly got in front 4-0 and then 5-2. The match came down to Federer’s serve and despite squandering two match points on errors and then giving Berdych a break point chance after a double fault, Federer ripped a huge serve out wide on his third match point to seal the deal.

“It was difficult, because the opponent was dangerous and tough and playing well, I thought,” said Federer. “He put me under a lot of pressure, but thank God I was able to react, you know. He doesn't give you that many chances, so I was happy. I hung in there. I know the danger of playing Tomas. I wish he was higher up in the rankings so you don't have to play him that early. I think today he showed why he could be a wonderful player. It’s good to have five-setters to see where you’re at. In the end it becomes very mental, and I know that this is where my biggest strengths always come into play.”

The 27-year-old Federer, who is looking to become just the fifth man to win four or more Australian Open titles, improves to 8-1 lifetime against the 6’5” Czech player. Throughout the five-set thriller, Federer smashed 20 aces and 61 winners compared to only eight aces and 58 winners by Berdych. An owner of 57 career ATP singles titles, Federer was able to break serve eight times compared to only five by Berdych. The win marked the fourth time in Federer’s career that he rallied from a two-sets-to-love deficit to win, the most recent during the 2005 Masters Series Miami championship match against Rafael Nadal. On his quest to tie Pete Sampras’ Grand Slam title record of 14, Federer will next face No. 8 Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina for a place in the semifinals.

Other Fourth Round Results from Sunday
No. 3 Novak Djokovic def. Marcos Baghdatis, 6-1, 7-6(1), 6-7(5), 6-2
No. 7 Andy Roddick def. No. 21 Tommy Robredo, 7-5, 6-1, 6-3
No. 8 Juan Martin Del Potro def. No. 19 Marin Cilic, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2