Roger Federer admitted he had been made to “battle hard” before securing victory in his Australian Open first-round clash with Andreas Seppi today.

Andre Agassi staved off retirement with a riveting 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (10-8) 7-6 (8-6) 6-2 victory over Romania’s Andrei Pavel on what turned out to be a late Monday night at the US Open.