Roger Federer faced down local battler John Millman 4-6 7-6(2) 6-4 4-6 7-6(8) in a five-set thriller on Friday night to reach the last 16 of the Australian Open and restore some normality to Melbourne Park after a day of big upsets.
The 20-times Grand Slam champion made an extraordinary 82 unforced errors to go with 62 winners as he went toe-to-toe with the world number 47 over more than four hours on Rod Laver Arena to secure his 100th Australian Open victory.
? 'The demons were always there'
— RT Sport (@RTSportNews) January 24, 2020
Roger Federer survives HUGE scare to edge John Millman in 5 sets#AusOpen https://t.co/Oo1aIyT0yo
Millman, who got the better of the Swiss at the 2018 U.S. Open, had all the early momentum and won the opening set before Federer grabbed the second on a tiebreak and the third with a late break of serve.
The tireless Australian was never going to fold, however, and took the fourth set before forcing the third seed to battle back from a break down to seal the victory in the tiebreak.