Roger Federer, far from his best, advances to Australian Open third round

MELBOURNE – The real Roger Federer hasn’t shown up at Melbourne Park quite yet, but that doesn’t come as a big surprise considering he sat out the second half of last season with a knee injury.

But not being picture-perfect didn’t prevent Federer from advancing to the third round of the Australian Open in a harder-than-anticipated 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (3) win over 200th-ranked American qualifier Noah Rubin on Wednesday.

“If you don’t know them they know you better,” Federer said of Rubin. “He played well. He’s a great fighter and has great legs.”

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Federer’s first round opponent was former top-10 veteran Jurgen Melzer, who is on the comeback trail from shoulder surgery, and had to qualify into the main draw. With the addition of these two wins, Federer now stands at 26-1 against qualifiers at Grand Slams. His one defeat to a qualifier at a major was to Croatian Mario Ancic in the 2002 Wimbledon first round.

The proof revealed within this scenario is that great champions, of which Federer with a record 17 Grand Slam titles definitely is, usually figure out a way to win even when not at their best.

Federer hadn’t lost a match to a player ranked in the 200s since he fell to a then 249th-ranked Sergi Bruguera at the 2000 Barcelona tournament. And although looking rusty, Federer wasn’t about to allow that to happen on Wednesday.

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There was an age gap of nearly 15 years between the 35-year-old Federer and Rubin, who will turn 21 next month. If they had anything in common it’s that they both were once Wimbledon boys’ junior champions as teens.

Rubin put forth a rather composed performance for someone who previously had won only two of four Grand Slam matches played. His previous two main-draw appearances at a major were courtesy of a wildcard, but this time around he came through qualifying.

Rubin had two set points on Federer’s serve at 5-2 but couldn’t close out. The Long Island native served for the set at 5-4, but Federer put the pressure on to recoup the service break when Rubin netted a backhand on a second break point.

On serve until 4-3 Federer in the third set tiebreaker, Rubin surrendered his next two serves to allow Federer to serve out the match on his first match point.

Federer’s next opponent will be a more familiar face in 10th seed Tomas Berdych, who ousted American Ryan Harrison in the second round.

“It’s not an easy draw,” Federer said. “Now I have a veteran, a top-10 player. He’s beaten me before, and I think he’ll like to beat me again.

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