Roger bucks Russian; Serena off to big start

MELBOURNE, Australia – Top-ranked Roger Federer had some anxious moments in his first-round match at the Australian Open before fending off Russia’s Igor Andreev, 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (2), 6-0.

Federer was up a service break in the first set Tuesday before Andreev broke back twice. The Swiss star then had to save three set points against Andreev’s serve in the 12th game of third set before forcing and then winning a tiebreaker.

He dominated the fourth, ensuring there was no similar end to his previous match on Rod Laver Arena – he finished in tears last year after losing the final to Rafael Nadal.

“I hoped I was going to hang in there, that he was going to get tired. It was a tough first round. I’m really, really relieved,” Federer said. “I think I definitely got lucky to get out of that one. It was a fortunate third set today.”

Federer hasn’t lost the opening round since the 2003 French Open, the event before he won Wimbledon for the first of his record 15 Grand Slam singles titles.

“I prefer easier matches, but this worked as well.”

About the same time Federer dropped the first set, Serena Williams was in a news conference discussing how proud she was of extending her record of never losing the first round of a major.

She was more subdued in her first Grand Slam match since her outburst at the US Open, starting the defense of her Australian Open title with a 6-2, 6-1 win over 18-year-old Polish player Urszula Radwanska.

The victory was more like her previous match at Melbourne Park – a 6-0, 6-3 win over now No. 2-ranked Dinara Safina in last year’s final – than her last in a major: her loss to Kim Clijsters in the semifinals at Flushing Meadows.

Her tirade against a line judge who called her for a foot fault cost Williams that match, a record fine of $82,500 and a suspended ban which means she’ll miss a US Open if she has another such outburst at any Grand Slam event in the next two years.

Williams has written about the fine being unfair, saying it wouldn’t have been applied to a man in the same situation. But she has accepted it, set up a charity to raise an amount equal to the fines she received, and moved on.

“I always said what I did wasn’t right, but I turned that around and I’m actually raising $92,000 to educate ladies, women, also for my school in Africa ... also I’m giving some money to Haiti,” she said. “I don’t know whoever got fined like that. People said worse, done worse. I just thought it was a bit much.”

As for the suspended ban?

“No, that hasn’t crossed my mind at all as if I yell too much, it would be a problem,” she said. “I feel like I can always be myself.

“You know, I just do the best that I can. I’ll say, ‘C’mon.’ I’ll get frustrated. I’ll still be human. I’ll still make mistakes. I’ll still learn from them.” (AP)