Stretched!

Federer was pushed to five sets in his fourth round match with Tommy Haas and it briefly looked as though he might have to go the full distance again after the wiry Russian pinched the second set and served for the third.

Despite not playing at his very best, Federer broke back when he needed to and then saved six set points before taking the third set in a tie-break. He won the fourth set in another tie-break to stay on course for a second Australian Open crown.

“I still came through,” a relieved Federer said in a courtside interview. “Usually when I scramble it’s because of my opponent. It was a fantastic match.”

Federer, 24, looked to be in for a much easier night when he made a confident start at the Rod Laver Arena, holding his first three service games comfortably and putting his opponent under pressure with powerful groundstrokes.

Davydenko, also 24, finally cracked under the pressure, committing four unforced errors to drop serve but broke back immediately when Federer produced a sloppy game.

The Swiss bounced back, though, to claim a second straight break and grab the set after another string of errors from the Russian. “We’ve always had tough matches. I knew it would be a tough one, he’s had some good results here and I think he likes this surface,” Federer said. Federer had beaten Davydenko in their five previous meetings but said he was expecting a tough match against a man who made the quarter-finals in Melbourne last year and the semi-finals of the French Open.

The first signs that not all was well with Federer began to show in the second set when he struggled to hold his opening service games then dropped serve in the fifth game when he hit a routine forehand long. (Reuters)