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Federer stung, but unbeaten as Nadal survives

Roger Federer recovered from a set down and a bizarre bee sting to seal passage into the Australian Open third round.

The world No.2 was slow out of the gates in his 3-6 6-3 6-2 6-2 win over Italian against Italian Simone Bolelli, but rallied to make the last 32 for the 16th straight year.

Federer joins Andy Murray, Tomas Berdych and Grigor Dimitrov in the third round after a day of few surprises at Melbourne Park, though Rafael Nadal‘s effort to get there was a heart-stopper for the Spaniard.

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Federer had not lost a set to Bolelli in three meetings but quickly found himself on the back foot.

The 17-time grand slam winner didn’t get a look in during the first set, dropping it in just 33 minutes.

Italy’s world No.48 produced an inspired serving performance, denying Federer even a break point until midway through the second set.

Each game Bolelli won was met by just a smattering of applause from a stunned Rod Laver Arena.

Federer’s attempt to win his 18th major had almost unanimous support on Melbourne Park’s centre court, where he’s saluted four times previously.

At the ninth time of asking, Federer finally broke Bolelli with an outrageous defensive backhand that had no right to find the far corner.

He tied the match at a set apiece and shifted gears.

Putting more pressure on the Italian, Federer broke Bolelli’s serve twice in each set and walked off court a winner.

He explained a quick moment with his trainer was to work out how to treat the sting.

“It felt like a bee stung me, but I was like `this can’t be possible’,” he said.

“I’ve never had this pain before.

“It was disturbing me. I knew that to tape it wasn’t the option.

“Thankfully it wasn’t as bad as the end.”

World No.3 Nadal survived a five-set scare against unheralded American Tim Smyczek.

Nadal came into the match underdone after back, appendicitis and wrist problems but it was stomach problems that appeared to hamper his play.

The 14-time grand slam champion clawed his way to a 6-2 3-6 6-7 (7-2) 3-6 7-5 win over the world No.112.

The 28-year-old started well enough but uncharacteristic errors soon piled up as the third seed struggled.

In the third set Nadal called for the trainer and complained of dizziness.

He was bent over following rallies and pointed to his stomach, shaking his head at his entourage.

But Nadal showed grit to battle on against Smyczek, whose previous biggest win came against then world No.19 Jurgen Melzer back in 2012.

The 27-year-old American played beyond his ranking, sending down 64 winners to Nadal’s 43.

The pair went toe to toe in the final set before Nadal broke his opponent to lead 6-5 before claiming the win on his fourth match point.

Nadal faces Israeli Dudi Sela in the third round.

There was no doubt about Murray’s progression as he steamrolled Australian Marinko Matosevic.

The three-time runner-up made short work of the Victorian, winning 6-1 6-3 6-2 in 102 minutes.

Murray crushed Matosevic’s spirit in a 21-minute opening set and made just 12 unforced errors for the match.

By contrast, Matosevic made 49 blunders, ensuring his first appearance in the Open’s second round would be short and far from sweet.

Berdych too was largely untroubled in his straight-sets defeat of Austrian Jurgen Melzer.

His 7-6 (7-0) 6-2 6-2 victory came in two hours and three minutes to set up a meeting Viktor Troicki in the third round.

Troicki continued his fine 2015 form by defeating 26th seed Leonardo Mayer in four sets.

The Sydney International winner defeated his seventh straight opponent ranked inside the world’s top 70 with a 6-4 4-6 6-4 6-0 victory.

Dimitrov won through with a 6-3 6-7 (10-12) 6-3 6-3 victory over Lukas Lacko.

Rising Belgian and 20th seed David Goffin was defeated by 2006 Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis 6-1 6-4 4-6 6-0, while 24th seed Richard Gasquet beat Australian wildcard James Duckworth 6-2 6-3 7-5.

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