MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - He thought he would again lose to French top ace Gilles Simon, but Swiss Roger Federer was on top of his game during their third battle at the Australian Open Wednesday with 6-2, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 in the second round.

Fox Sports emphasized however that it was not an easy match particularly for Federer, saying it took Federer 3:19 of 'scintillating tennis' to win the dogfight with the French lithe. Federer was defeated by Simon in the first two occasions, thereby making him on his toes as he received the lightning strikes of Simon's ball.

"The third set was weird", said Federer as quoted by Fox Sports, adding that 'he doesn't usually drop serve three times and surprised to break Simon twice and losing it 6-4'.

Federer admitted fear recognizing Simon's notably increasing accurate ground strokes and the frequent brilliance of his opponent's service returns.

Describing Federer, the Associated Press said that the 'usually reserved' Swiss ace would openly pumped his fist" to celebrate every chances he would successfully edged Simon at the Grand Slam.

"I remained positive... it paid off. I got lucky. I'm happy I'm still in the tournament", Federer was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.

For his part, Simon said that he was equally impressed with Federer. "It's going fast, he's moving fast, it's just impressive", Simon said according to AP, adding that 'there are not too many players able to play at this level'.

According to Fox Sports, Simon described the deciding moment came at 1-1 when he had Federer 0-30 down on his serve in the fifth. The French No.6 seed since 2009 said that it was then when Federer came with two aces, improving his second serve until Simon grew tired and succumbed to defeat.