Federer needed to recover from 4-5 down in the first set tie-breaker and from a break of serve down at 1-4 in the second against Swiss compatriot, and childhood friend, Marco Chiudinelli, ranked 117 in the world, before coming through 7-6 (7/5), 7-5.
World number one Nadal had to survive a tight first set and the loss of his first love set in nearly two years before overcoming the inspired hitting of Lukas Lacko, the world number 83 from Slovakia, by 7-6 (7/3), 0-6, 6-3.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 7th, 2011.
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