Mr. Tennis

Federer Survives Second Big Scare

World No.1 and overwhelming favourite for the men's title at Australian Open 2006, Switzerland's Roger Federer, has survived a massive scare in the quarter-finals to defeat Russian Nikolay Davydenko.

In a dramatic clash where Davydenko failed to win several big points, the Swiss master triumphed in four sets, 6-4 3-6 7-6 (9/7) 7-6 (7/5), after more than three hours on Rod Laver Arena in the Twilight Session.

Just two days after Federer had a similar heart-scare with a five-set victory over Tommy Haas in the fourth round, the six-time Grand Slam winner looked uncharacteristically shaky as Davydenko threatened to cause a boilover.

Even though Davydenko won the opening set in 38 minutes, the Russian returned the favour in the second set with confident tennis, converting at 88 per cent on his first serve.

Crucially, Davydenko had five set points in the decisive third set - two in his service game at 6-5 and another three after getting on top in the tiebreak - but the No.5 seed failed to deliver.

And Federer was similarly pushed in the fourth set but the world No.1 showed more composure under pressure to take another step towards a second Australian Open crown.


Federer only won five more points than Davydenko (144 to 139)
The Swiss had more unforced errors (52 to 48)
Federer didn't serve a double fault and nailed six aces
Davydenko fired only one ace and committed only two double-faults