Roger Federer survived an almighty scare to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open following a dramatic victory over John Millman.
The six-time champion looked to have taken control of the match having taken a 2-1 lead after dropping the first set, but his Australian opponent rallied and, spurred on by a home crowd, took the match to a fifth set and championship tie break.
Federer looked down and out, trailing 8-4 in the breaker, but summoned all his powers of recovery to reel off six points in succession and claim an astonishing victory.
‘It was tough, thank god it was a super tie breaker otherwise I would have lost this one,’ said Federer afterwards. ‘Where to start? John played an incredible match, he was a hero making this match.
‘He is a great fighter, a good guy. It came down to the wire at the end it can go one way.
“I was getting ready to explain myself in the post-match press conference!” @RogerFederer thought his time at the 2020 Australian Open was over ?
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‘I had to stay focused, take the right decision. He was doing all that stuff at the beginning of the breaker he kept on coming up with the goods.
‘I thought ‘OK I haven’t played too bad’ and I was getting ready to explain myself in the press conference. The demons are always there, they are lurking.
Millman stunned Federer at the 2018 US Open and looked on course to record another shock victory, before Federer staged a dramatic late recovery.
Asked how he turned the match around, Federer said: ‘I had to figure out a way to get him in trouble on his serve.
‘He’s not known to be the best server. He’s got a good serve but it’s not like the tall guys when it’s coming in super fast.
‘But he was doing such a nice job of not making a lot of mistakes
‘I was struggling with the forehand and backhand cross court shots and he was kind of dominating both sides.’
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