Roger Federer was eliminated from the Australian Open in the third round after losing to Andreas Seppi on Friday in Melbourne.
Federer entered the tournament as the second seed, and lost in four sets to the unseeded Italian. Federer dropped the first two sets, then rallied in the third, beating Seppi 6-4. The fourth set went to a tiebreaker, but Federer could not capitalize on multiple mini-breaks.
"I wish I could have played better," Federer said at his post-match news conference.
Federer is now 1-6 when falling behind two sets to none in the Australian Open. His only comeback victory came back in 2009, when he ousted Tomas Berdych. It's the first time since 2001 that Federer will not advance past the third round of the Open.
Seppi had nothing but positive things to say about Federer following the match. "It was one of my best matches for sure, or else I couldn't win against Roger," he told ESPN. "It was fun to play in front of a full stadium."
Seppi defeated Federer for the first time in 11 meetings.
"I guess I won the wrong points out there today," Federer said. "It wasn't pretty, you know."
Seppi, who will turn 31 next month and has played professionally since 2001, has never gotten past the fourth round in any Grand Slam tournament. He has won only three ATP Tour events and his highest world ranking was 18th, achieved two years ago.
This day certainly belonged to Seppi.
"It was an overall feeling out there today, that I couldn't get my full game going," Federer said.
In other Day 5 action, another top-10 seed narrowly escaped an upset when No. 10 Grigor Dimitrov overcame Marcos Baghdatis in five sets, winning 6-3 in the fifth. No. 3 Rafael Nadal, No. 6 Andy Murray and No. 7 Tomas Berdych scored straight-set victories.
For the women, third-seeded Simona Halep, No. 7 Eugenie Bouchard, No. 10 Elena Makarova won in straight sets, while 14th-seeded Sara Errani needed three sets to defeat Yanina Wickmayer.
