Roger Federer through to the third round with a four set win over Simone Bolelli

Roger Federer plays a backhand in his win over Simone Bolelli in the second round

Roger Federer reached the third round of the Australian Open with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 win over Italian Simone Bolelli in the Rod Laver Arena.

The first set did not go according to plan for the man from Basel. Bolelli took an early break in the fourth game after Federer committed a couple of unforced errors off his backhand on deuce to go 3-1 up. The Swiss did not get a single break point opportunity in the first set as Bolelli won 81% of his first serve points. Errors started creeping into Federer’s game and Bolelli hit winners at will to take complete control of the set. He won the first set with a brilliant service winner.

The second set started off with both players holding serve with relative ease. Bolelli’s first serve percentage dropped drastically and he paid the price in the eighth game when Federer finally broke the Italian’s serve for the first time in the match. It was an easy hold in the next game for the No. 2 seed to make it one set all.

Federer was on the top of his game in the third set not allowing Bolelli to score easy points off his serve. His shotmaking was sublime as the match went on and committed fewer unforced errors off his backhand to take the third set with a couple of service breaks.

Bolelli wasn’t serving the way he did for the first set and a half and looked tired in the midst of long rallies. The World No. 48 was broken twice again in the fourth set and Federer served out the eighth game to reach the third round in Melbourne.

Federer will face either Jeremy Chardy or Andreas Seppi in the third round.