Ferrer battles through to Open third round

MELBOURNE: Spanish fifth seed David Ferrer came through a tough five-set battle against American Ryan Sweeting to reach the third round of the Australian Open on Thursday.

Ferrer, who reached the semi-finals in Melbourne last year, was in trouble when trailing by two sets to one but found his form to win 6-7 (4/7), 6-2, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 in a match lasting 3hr 28min. (AFP)