Federer Reaches 3rd Round in Return at Australian Open

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 18: Roger Federer of Switzerland celebrates winning his second round match against Noah Rubin of the United States on day three of the 2017 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 18, 2017 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images)

After back-to-back wins over qualifiers, the degree of difficulty in his comeback from a six-month injury layoff will increase exponentially. Next up he faces former Wimbledon champion Tomas Berdych, who had a 6-3, 7-6 (6), 6-2 win over Ryan Harrison.

Also looming, potentially, is No. 5 Kei Nishikori, the 2014 U.S. Open finalist, who set up a third-round match against Lukas Lacko with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 win over Jeremy Chardy.

Federer didn’t play after his semifinal exit at Wimbledon last year, resting his injured left knee. He returned at the Hopman Cup exhibition in Perth this month, and opened at Melbourne Park with a straight-sets win over another 35-year-old veteran, Jurgen Melzer.

Against Rubin, a 20-year-old qualifier and former Wimbledon junior champion, the 17-time Grand Slam winner played the big points like the old pro that he is.

He broke Rubin’s serve in the 12th game of the first set, dominated the second. Rubin had his chances in the third set, breaking Federer in the second game and having two set points on the Swiss star’s serve when he led 5-2.

But Federer upped the tempo, winning four of the last five games to force a tiebreaker, which he dominated.

“I definitely got lucky winning that third set. He had a couple of set points on my serve,” Federer said. There were, “a lot of difficult points, which is what I need.”