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On a day of high drama at the Australian Open Roger Federer came back from two sets to love down to win a thrilling encounter against 23-year old Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, Dinara Safina survived a couple of match points against French teenager Alize Cornet; however top seed Jelena Jankovic was not quite as lucky as she was disposed off rather unceremoniously by 16th seed Marion Bartoli.

Three-time former champion Roger Federer was broken in the first game of the opening set by Berdych, who came into this match as a huge underdog, having never beaten the Swiss legend in their 7 previous encounters. Playing erratic tennis in the opening set, Fed erer hit 13 unforced errors to Berdych's 3 as the 20th seed hung on to take the set.

In the 2nd set Fed went up 2-0 only to have his serve broken straight back. There were no further breaks in the set and it headed into a tie-break. Federer and Berdych traded mini breaks right through and Berdych was one up with two points on his serve at 5-4. Berdych played a well constructed point which ended with an easy backhand volley to give himself two set points for a 2-0 lead. An inside-out forehand winner on the following point gave Berdych the set as all eyes turned to the Rod Laver Arena, anticipating a major upset.

Federer started the third set just as he did the second, breaking the Berdych serve, however once again he was broken straight back as Berdych refused to hand over the momentum to the Swiss ace. They swapped another break of serve before Federer broke again at 3-3 and then finally held on to his own serve to consolidate the break. Berdych held for 4-5 to force Federer to serve out the third set.

The service game got a lot tighter than it should have, as Federer continued to be error prone, however the champion did just enough to close out his service game.

At a pivotal moment at deuce in the first game of the fourth set, Berdych challenged a line call, but the hawkeye replay was unable to show where the ball landed and the original call stood to give Federer a break point. Berdych dumped an easy backhand volley into the net on the following point, as he lost his focus and handed Federer an early break. Federer held onto the advantage despite some heavy hitting from Berdych to close out the 4th set 6-4, saving a couple of break points in the final game in the process.

Federer took another early break in the first game of the final set with an outstanding forehand crosscourt passing shot to take the lead for the first time in the match. In a bizarre coincidence, the first service game of every set went against the server!

Federer seemed to find another gear in the fifth set as he looked refreshed and hungry for the first time in this match. Federer broke again to take a 4-0 lead as Berdych struggled with a strained hamstring, and the former world no. 1 closed out the match in a minute under three and a half hours to progress to the Quarter finals.

Other victors in the men's draw today included Andy Roddick, Novak Djokovic & Juan Martin Del Potro.

Women's Draw:

Former Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli bounced her way into the quarterfinals, causing the first major upset of the tournament beating world no. 1 Jelena Jankovic in straight sets 6-1, 6-4.

Bartoli hit 15 winners in the first set as she raced to a 5-0 lead. Jankovic managed to get on the scoreboard in the set, but it was too little too late as Bartoli closed out the set in 31 minutes.

The second set started on an even keel as the players traded breaks in alternate games. Bartoli broke Jankovic for a third time in the set to take a 5-4 lead. She closed out the match with a solid service game to dump a hapless Jankovic out of the tournament.

Should Serena Williams have a good run, she is likely to overtake Jankovic in the WTA rankings released after the tournament.

The women's draw almost lost another big name as 3rd seed Dinara Safina had to save two match points in the third set on her way to overcoming French starlet Alize Cornet 6-2, 2-6, 7-5.

Also advancing to the quarter finals were 7th seed Vera Zvonareva and Jelena Dokic. Zvonareva overcame compatriot Nadia Petrova 7-5, 6-4 while Dokic continued her fairytale comeback, beating Kleybanova 7-5, 5-7, 8-6 in a memorable 4th round encounter that lasted over 3 hours.

Indians Progress too:

Australian Open 2008 runners-up Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza progessed to the quarter-finals of the mixed doubles; thrashing the all Australian pair of Anastasia Rodionova and Stephen Huss 6-1, 6-2 in just 54 minutes.

Bhupathi also advanced to the third round of the Men's doubles with partner Mark Knowles from the Bahamas with a hard fought 7-5, 7-5 victory over the Russian pairing of Igor Kunitsyn & Dmitry Tursnov. They will next take on Tommy Robredo & Nicloas Lapentti. Robredo & Lapentti incidentally beat Rohan Bopanna and his partner Jarkko Nieminen in the 2nd Round.

The other Indian in the draw, Leander Paes also advanced to the 3rd Round with his partner Lukas Dlouhy. They will take on the Australian pair of Paul Hanley & Jordan Kerr.

Photograph Copyright: Sergio Lordao (Federer), Rob (Bartoli)