Federer thanks his stars after surviving Simon scare

Defending champion Roger Federer narrowly avoided his earliest Grand Slam exit in eight years at the Australian Open yesterday

Defending champion Roger Federer narrowly avoided his earliest Grand Slam exit in eight years at the Australian Open yesterday.

The Swiss World No 2 escaped with a dramatic five-set victory over Frenchman Gilles Simon, going through on his fifth match point 6-2, 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 6-3 win on Rod Laver Arena.

Super slicer: Swiss ace Roger Federer returns to France's Gilles Simon during their Australian Open second round match at Melbourne Park yesterday. Federer narrowly scraped through 6-2, 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 6-3. PIC/Getty Images

But Federer was a mighty relieved man to have survived a major scare from the 34th-ranked Simon, who had won their only two previous encounters. The Swiss ace had cruised to a two-set advantage, but Simon roared back to take the contest into a fifth and deciding set.

Federer counted himself lucky to have avoided his worst Grand Slam performance since losing in the first round at the 2003 French Open. "Today I got lucky to go through," Federer said.

"He's a great player. Matches against him don't come easy and they always go the distance. Hopefully, I won't play him any more," he laughed.

Elsewhere on an eventful day three, Spain's Fernando Verdasco battled back from two sets down to win another five-set thriller, while American Andy Roddick advanced in straight sets and Frenchman Gael Monfils needed four sets.

Federer will play Belgium's Xavier Malisse in Friday's third round where he will be joined by Serbian third seed Djokovic, who had a four-set win over Croatian Ivan Dodig.

The in-form Serb was always expected to be too good for the 81st-ranked Dodig, but was fractionally off his game and struggled to quell his spirited opponent before eventually winning 7-5, 6-7 (8/10), 6-0, 6-2.