World No.1 Roger Federer came from a set down to overcome Russian Igor Andreev 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (2) and 6-0 on Tuesday and booked his place in the second round of the Australian Open.
Federer, seeking his fourth title at Melbourne Park, was forced to save three set points in the 12th game of a rollercoaster third set before finally breaking Andreev's resolve.
The Swiss star admitted he was pleased to have come through a tricky encounter.
"I knew it was going to be tough," said Federer. "We played five sets in New York two years back and that was extremely tough. I think he is a wonderful player. That was a tough first round and I am really, really relieved that I am through."
There was a significant shock on Court 2 when Robin Soderling, seeded eighth, squandered a two-set lead to lose 5-7, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 and 6-2 to Marcel Granollers.
Roger Federer of Switzerland celebrates after the first round match of men's singles against Igor Andreev of Russia in 2010 Australian Open at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne Park, Jan. 19, 2010.
Serbia's third seed Novak Djokovic, the 2008 champion in Melbourne, fought back from an early break in the opening set to defeat Spain's Daniel Gimeno-Traver 7-5, 6-3 and 6-3, while Nikolay Davydenko began with a 6-1, 6-0 and 6-3 thrashing of German qualifier Dieter Kindlmann.
Davydenko has beaten Federer in their last two meetings and the pair are seeded to meet in the quarterfinals in Melbourne.
"Now I feel like I can beat everyone," said Davydenko, who is trying to win a first Grand Slam title. "Before no, mostly I was losing against these guys (top players), but now I can beat everyone. It's a good feeling."
In front of his home crowd, former world No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt was rarely troubled as he cruised to a straight sets victory over Brazil's Ricardo Hocevar in one hour and 40 minutes.
Last year's semifinalist Fernando Verdasco had a tough opening encounter against Australian Carsten Ball, dropping the first set and being pushed hard in the second before coming through 6-7 (4), 7-6 (1), 7-5 and 6-2.
On the women's side, top seed Serena Williams and her sister Venus wasted little time in reaching the second round.
Serena, the defending champion and world No.1, swept aside Poland's Urszula Radwanska 6-2, 6-1 on Rod Laver Arena, and Venus proved far too good for Czech Lucie Safarova, who she downed 6-2, 6-2 in just 72 minutes.
Serbs Jelena Jankovic, the eighth seed, and 20th seed Ana Ivanovic also had comfortable victories.
Jankovic downed Romania's Monica Niculescu 6-4, 6-0 and Ivanovic outclassed American qualifier Shenay Perry 6-2, 6-3.
Polish 10th seed Agnieszka Radwanska, the elder sister of Urszula, was another easy victor, thrashing German Tatjana Malek 6-1, 6-0.
Nadia Petrova, the 19th seed, is also through after downing Romanian Edina Gallovits 6-3 and 6-4.