Roger Federer was pushed early and often in his third round match at the 2012 Australian Open, yet still came away with a straight-sets win over Ivo Karlovic. The first two sets of the match were back-and-forth battles, with Federer taking the early tiebreaker to win the first set, 7-6 (8-6). In the second, he was again pushed to the brink before coming away with a 7-5 set to take a two sets to none advantage.
Finally, Federer put together a relatively easy, by comparison, set in the third, breezing to a 6-3 win in 38 minutes. Despite the rough start, Federer went the minimum to advance to the third round with a 7-6 (8-6), 7-5, 6-3 win over Karlovic.
Federer finished the match with 55 winners and just 13 unforced errors, besting Karlovic's 40 winners and 35 unforced errors. With the win, Federer, who holds the No. 3 seed, advances to the fourth round, where he'll face either Bernard Tomic or Alexandr Dolgopolov.
For complete updates and coverage of the 2012 Australian Open, please stay tuned to SB Nation's tennis hub. For more on the Day 5 action, visit this StoryStream
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