Roger Federer found himself in trouble for much of his second round match, but the Swiss maestro battled his way to a four-set victory.
For the better part of three sets, Jose Acasuso played the match of his life. In the opening set, the Argentine earned himself a whopping five break points in the fourth game of the match, but he was unable to convert. As it turned out, Federer was just delaying the inevitable. At 3-2, Acasuso finally secured the break of serve. Unfortunately for the Argentine, he played a sloppy game on his own serve to gift the break back.
Acasuso took the lead again in the tiebreak with a double mini-break. Federer fought back from 3-6 down to eventually take the set on a spectacular drop-shot.
Perhaps Federer expected Acasuso to cave a bit in the second set, but the Argentine came back just as strong as he had been in the first. In a complete surprise, it was Federer who showed signs of caving to the pressure. By the tail end of the set, the Swiss man was shanking backhands meters long and missing easy forehands. Acasuso secured the set-winning break at 5-5.
Federer played shockingly poor tennis for the first half of the third set. Acasuso earned a 5-1 lead on the strength of ridiculous unforced errors from the world No. 2. Serving for the set at 5-2, the Argentine tightened up and was broken. At that point, the momentum in the match completely turned. Acasuso tweaked his ankle chasing a drop-shot and he was not the same thereafter.
Federer was close to losing this match in straight sets, but as great champions so often do, he found a way to win in four. He awaits the winner of Paul-Henri Mathieu and Pablo Andujar in the third round.
Federer says he thought he had match under control but is happy to get the win.
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