Federer Vs. Gilles Simon- Too close for comfort ?

Hi Guys,

Did anyone watch the Federer vs. Gilles Simon game last night , repeated today afternoon again ? It was a cracker of a match ! Fed did NOT look convincing in his 5 set victory over the Frenchman,barring the last few games of the final set.

Federer looked to be on cruise control early on , leading 2 sets to nothing , against a guy he'd lost twice before in their only head-to-head encounters till date, in 2008, one in Toronto immediately after his finals loss to Nadal in Wimbledon, when, all of a sudden , Simon turned it up ! He started getting a good read on Fed's serve, began attacking Fed's backhand convincingly, mixing his groundstokes with angles, deeps and slices, and getting powerful first serves in , backing it up with effective 2nd serve kickers high to Fed's backhand. Federer was being too passive and slicing everything back on his backhand, missing some routine forehands and dumping some sitter volleys. Simon getting everything back like a retriever did not help Fed's case much and he looked to be crumbling fast. Simon took the next two sets 6-4, 6-4 , and looked to be poised for the biggest upset of  the start of 2011..Remember, Fed doesn't have the greatest record winning the first two sets and coming back from losing the next two ! 

Lo and behold , Mr. Fed got his groove back on ! He put himself into the 5th gear on a stick shift car ! Started going for his first serves , being wristy and creating cute angles on the court with his forehand, running simon around everywhere and tiring him up , hitting through his backhand with more top and more depth , and attacking simon's 2nd serves by almost running around all of them and hitting forehands. After he broke Simon at 2-2 in the 5th, he never looked back , and is his wont to do when he's leading , just put his foot onto the gas pedal and..as a popular car commercial aptly puts it..Zoom Zoom Zoom !

But it didn't look like grand slam winning material. I hope he matures later on , but for my money, Soderling and Nadal are looking more convincing. Soderling esp. is looking really hungry for his first ever Slam..

AP Press..

" Defending champion Roger Federer admitted he was lucky to survive a major scare at the Australian Open on Wednesday, beating Gilles Simon 6-2, 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 6-3 in the second round.

For a while, it seemed as if Simon, who had beaten Federer in their only two previous meetings, would send the Swiss star packing out of a Grand Slam before the third round for the first time since the French Open in 2003 -- a total of 31 majors.

Simon is one of only three players on the ATP Tour to hold a winning record against the Swiss star, although Federer cut the margin. Simon's series lead is now 2-1. "

Did anyone else watch this match ? Comments and feedback greatly appreciated ! Thanks and Talk soon..

Abs.