Tennis: World number one Roger Federer was given a fright against Janko Tipsarevic before edging into the fourth round of the Australian Open.
Federer was 2-1 down before the Swiss managed to claw his way back to win 6-7 (5/7) 7-6 (7/1) 5-7 6-1 10-8.
Tipsarevic, the 49th-ranked Serbian, battled all the way before finally going down in four hours 27 minutes.
Federer, chasing his 13th grand slam title, looked strangely off-colour as he struggled to overcome his rival.
Earlier James Blake had battled back from the brink of defeat to reach the fourth round.
The 12th seed was two points from joining the likes of Andy Roddick and Fernando Gonzalez in departing at the third-round stage.
However, Blake came back from two sets down and 4-1 down in the fourth to finally topple Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean 4-6 2-6 6-0 7-6 (7/5) 6-2.
"That's got to be my biggest comeback. Down two sets to love, two breaks against a guy who was getting a lot of free points on his serve; 4-1 in the (fourth set) tiebreaker, 5-3 in the breaker.
"It just seemed like every time there was a mountain to climb. There couldn't have been a better feeling than to accomplish what I did and come back and play so well," Blake admitted.
The win meant Blake avoided the fate of seventh seed Fernando Gonzalez, who crashed out 6-2 6-7 (7/4) 6-3 6-1 against Croatia's Marin Cilic.
Gonzalez, last year's beaten finalist, was guilty of 31 unforced errors as Cilic booked a first-ever grand slam fourth-round spot.
And Cilic admitted: "It was probably the best match of my life.
"It was fortunate we were playing indoors, it helped me with my serve without the wind."
In the women's draw Svetlana Kuznetsova only had herself to blame after crashing out to rising Polish star Agnieska Radwanska.
The Russian lost in straight sets 6-3 6-4 to the number 29 seed, committing 36 unforced errors as she suffered a shock exit in Melbourne.
The final game of the match summed up her performance when, needing a break to stay in contention, she led 15-40 but gave up her advantage before handing 18-year-old Radwanska victory with a poor return of serve that barely reached the net.
"It's pretty simple. I think I beat myself up out there, so I didn't do many right things," Kuznetsova said.
She was not the only highly-fancied Russian to see their participation in the year's opening Grand Slam ended.
Sixth seed Anna Chakvetadze was overpowered in three sets 6-7 (8/10) 6-1 6-2 by compatriot Maria Kirilenko in the first match on Rod Laver Arena.
It is the first time Kirilenko, seeded 27, has made it through to the fourth round where she will meet either Virginia Ruano Pascual or Daniela Hantuchova.
Ana Ivanovic faced few problems as she downed Katarina Srebotnik 6-3 6-4 on the Vodafone Arena.
The 20-year-old Serb, the tournament's fourth seed, broke early in the first set before holding serve throughout to take the lead.
She then broke the Srebotnik serve again in the third game of the second set but was forced to survive a break point from the Slovenian in the next before holding her own serve to consolidate her lead.
From there Ivanovic, who served seven aces throughout the 82 minutes of play, closed out the game to book her spot in the fourth round.