• Wimbledon, Day One

Federer escapes Falla upset

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Top seed Roger Federer snatched victory from the jaws of defeat as he narrowly avoided an inconceivable upset at the hands of world No. 60 Alejandro Falla.

The six-time champion looked to be heading for only his second defeat in eight years at the All England Club, but rallied from two sets and a break down to battle his way to a 5-7 4-6 6-4 7-6(1) 6-0 victory.

The pair first met on Centre Court at Wimbledon six years ago, when Federer cruised past the Colombian 6-1 6-2 6-0. And with Federer having won all four of their previous meetings, including two victories in the past month, there was no reason to suspect that the six-time champion would need anything other than three sets to book his place in round two.

As the defending champion, Federer was given the honour of opening proceedings on Centre Court, but he did not have things all his way. Federer came out of the blocks quickly as he piled pressure on Falla's serve. The Colombian was forced to save a string of break points as he hung on in the opening stages. But as he settled his nerves on Centre Court, his aggressive serve-and-volley tactics paid off as he stunned Federer with a crisp backhand volley into the corner to snatch a break and served out for the set.

It was the first time Federer had dropped a set in his opening round match since 2002, when he lost to Mario Ancic. But if the crowd expected the 16-time Grand Slam champion to bounce straight back, they were disappointed, and it was more of the same as Falla continued to hit the winners as the world No. 2 looked jaded and hit a string of unforced errors.

If Federer was well below his usual sparkling best, Falla was playing out of his skin, and even after he received treatment on his left groin during the third set, he refused to be outdone, peppering the corners of the court with winners even Federer would have been proud of.

In what could have been the turning point in the match, Federer saved four break points at 4-4 before going on to clinch the third set. But just as Falla looked to have thrown his chance away, he was handed another opportunity in the fourth by Federer, who served three double faults to hand the early break to the Colombian.

Federer showed impressive strength of character to break back to take the set to a tie-break, and it was game over for Falla, who looked jaded and devoid of ideas as Federer began to show glimpses of the tennis that has seen him crowned champion six times in the past seven years.

"I definitely got very lucky today out there," Federer admitted. "But I have lost many matches this year I should have won; this one was one I should have lost but I came through, that's sometimes how grass court tennis works."

Federer was not the only seed to struggle on the opening day. Novak Djokovic was forced to twice battle back from a set down in order to progress at the expense of Oliver Rochus, claiming victory under lights in the latest finish in the tournament's history.

It was another in a line of turbulent performances from the No. 3 seed, who has struggled for form this year - most notably with his serve, which still seems stuttering in its technique.

He can at least take comfort from the fact that the five-set match offered him the opportunity to get some minutes under his belt on grass, although he will need to improve if he is to avoid an early exit.

Elsewhere, No. 17 seed Ivan Ljubicic was beaten in straight sets by Poland's Michal Przysiezny, while 11th seed Marin Cilic was sent packing by Germany's Florian Mayer.

Eastbourne semi-finalist Denis Istomin cemented his burgeoning reputation as a grass-court specialist as he vanquished 20th seed Stanislas Wawrinka, who was dumped out by Andy Murray last year, in a protracted five-set clash.

Three-time runner-up Andy Roddick fired a warning shot to his rivals for the title by storming past Rajeev Ram with a minimum of fuss. Roddick, who admitted in the run-up to the tournament that he would value a Wimbledon triumph above a win at the other Slams, sealed a 6-3 6-2 6-2 success.

Seventh seed Nikolay Davydenko was perilously close to the fifth opening-round exit at Wimbledon of his career, but he clawed back a two-set deficit to overcome Kevin Anderson 3-6 6-7(3) 7-6(3) 7-5 9-7.

Tomas Berdych justified his status as a dark horse for the title by making short work of Andrey Golubev to win 7-6(5) 6-2 6-2. The French Open semi-finalist carried on the form that has seen him claim 30 matches already this year, sending down 12 aces as he hared into the second round.

There were also wins for Feliciano Lopez, Lleyton Hewitt, Mardy Fish, Gael Monfils and Rainer Schuettler.

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