Australian Open Round-up: Top seed Roger Federer survived a five-set scare from unseeded German Tommy Haas today to reach the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.
At two sets up the world number one's game inexplicably fell apart before he regained his composure to win 6-4 6-0 3-6 4-6 6-2.
"This for me was a good match to win in five," a relieved Federer said in a courtside interview. "I like to be pushed like this. I'm happy I had a tough one now and I'm still in the tournament."
The Swiss looked to be cruising to his fourth consecutive straight-sets win when he ripped through the first two sets in an hour before Haas staged a remarkable fightback to force the match into a deciding fifth set.
Federer got the vital break in the sixth game when his German opponent missed an easy volley and broke again in the eighth game to advance to the quarter-finals. He will play Russian fifth seed Nikolay Davydenko, who beat Slovakian ironman Dominik Hrbaty 4-6 4-6 6-4 6-2 6-3.
Federer won the Australian Open in 2004 and has claimed five of the last eight grand slam titles. "Everything turned around. I was playing fantastic in the first two sets then he played fantastically in the next two," Federer said.
"I was really just trying to break his momentum. I knew that all I needed was a break because I was serving pretty well."
And with Haas finally wilting he took the fifth 6-2 to set up a quarter-final showdown with fifth seed Nikolay Davydenko.
The Russian was forced to come from two sets down to edge out Dominik Hrbaty in a gruelling match. He eventually advanced to the last eight after an energy-sapping 4-6 4-6 6-4 6-2 6-3 victory.
Nicolas Kiefer had to toil hard for a tough 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 6-3 win over Argentine star Juan Ignacio Chela. The German 21st seed turned on a strong performance to overcome his gritty competitor.
Chela, who beat British sensation Andy Murray in the opening round and Australian hero Lleyton Hewitt in the second, played well but could not win the important points and that eventually proved fatal to his tournament hopes.
In the all-French affair it was the seeded Sebastien Grosjean who triumphed over compatriot Paul-Henri Mathieu. He was all class in racing to a 7-5 6-2 6-2 victory over his less experienced opponent.