Three members of the "Big Four" won second-round matches Wednesday at the 2015 Australian Open.
Second-seeded former world No. 1 Roger Federer had to come from behind to beat Italian Simone Bolelli 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2, while third-seeded former top- ranked star Rafael Nadal needed all five sets and survived cramps to hold off American Tim Smyczek 6-2, 3-6, 6-7 (2-7), 6-3, 7-5 at Melbourne Park.
The 2014 Wimbledon runner-up and 17-time Grand Slam king Federer owns four Aussie Open titles and was the 2009 runner-up here to Nadal.
Federer's next opponent will be Italian Andreas Seppi.
Playing just his 10th tour-level match since July of last year, Nadal ground out a comeback victory against the world No. 112 Smyczek.
"I don't know what was going on," Nadal said in a courtside interview. "There was imitation, I started to have cramps in different places. I was not in the perfect shape."
The 14-time Grand Slam champ and reigning French Open titlist Nadal maintained his record of never losing to a qualifier at a Grand Slam championship, but his win kept fans at Rod Laver Arena on the edges of their seats.
The former Oz champ and two-time runner-up triumphed in 4 hours, 12 minutes to set up a third-round meeting with Israeli Dudi Sela.
Nadal lost to Stan Wawrinka in last year's finale in Melbourne.
Meanwhile, sixth-seeded three-time Aussie Open runner-up Andy Murray eased past Aussie Marinko Matosevic 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 on Day 3 at the fortnight. The two-time Grand Slam champion's third-round opponent will be Portuguese Joao Sousa.
Seventh-seeded Tomas Berdych handled Austrian Jurgen Melzer 7-6 (7-0), 6-2, 6-2, while 10th-seeded Grigor Dimitrov got past Slovak Lukas Lacko 6-3, 6-7 (10-12), 6-3, 6-3 and 14th-seeded South African Kevin Anderson beat Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3).
In other action involving seeds, former Aussie runner-up Marcos Baghdatis upset No. 20 David Goffin 6-1, 6-4, 4-6, 6-0; Aussie Bernard Tomic took out No. 22 Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-5); rising Aussie Nick Kyrgios drove out No. 23 Ivo Karlovic 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, 5-7, 6-4; No. 24 Richard Gasquet grounded Aussie James Duckworth 6-2, 6-3, 7-5; last week's Sydney champion Viktor Troicki of Serbia dismissed No. 26 Leonardo Mayer 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-0; the aforementioned Sela surprised No. 28 Lukas Rosol 7-6 (7-2), 5-7, 7-5, 6-3; Seppi erased No. 29 Jeremy Chardy 7-5, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1; and Sousa bested No. 32 Martin Klizan 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, 1-0, retired.
Also advancing were Aussie Sam Groth and Tunisia's Malek Jaziri.
The second round is scheduled to conclude Thursday, including matches for top- seeded four-time Aussie champion Novak Djokovic and the fourth-seeded reigning titlist Wawrinka. The seven-time major winner Djokovic will take on Russian Andrey Kuznetsov, while Wawrinka will look to extend his Melbourne winning streak to nine matches with a meeting against Romanian Marius Copil.
Also on the Day 4 schedule will be fifth-seeded U.S. Open runner-up Kei Nishikori, eighth-seeded Canadian slugger Milos Raonic, ninth-seeded David Ferrer, and former No. 1 and former Aussie runner-up Lleyton Hewitt.
[SportsNetwork.com]
