Roger Federer mounted a spirited comeback to reach the third round of the French Open here today by defeating Argentina's Jose Acasuso 7-6, 5-7, 7-6, 6-2.

The 27-year-old trailed 5-1 in the third set as he faced a barrage of blistering groundstrokes from the world No48 before hitting back to break his opponent's resistance in three hours, 25 minutes.

Federer's record of reaching at least the semi-finals of the last 19 consecutive Grand Slams appeared under threat as Acasuso, who has never been beyond the fourth round at Roland Garros, began with a fearless approach on Court Philippe Chatrier.

The Swiss world No2 dropped serve in the sixth game of the match but responded immediately as Acasuso dumped a forehand into the net to put the set back on serve.

Federer made several unforced errors during the tie-break and was forced to save three set points — two with aces — before taking it 10-8.

The second went with serve until the 11th game, when Acasuso broke thanks to a backhand down the line that Federer could only mishit wide.

Facing a set point, Federer hit a remarkable drop shot return winner; it seemed a fluke but there was no apology and someone with his ability could have meant the outcome.

Another long rally ended with a lunging crosscourt volley from Acasuso to save the first of two break points and he eventually pummelled Federer into submission to level at 1-1.

Acasuso secured a double break to lead 4-0 in the third but the 13-times Grand Slam champion regrouped and broke back twice before taking the match's second tie-break 7-2.

Federer now had the upper hand and he comfortably took the fourth 6-2 to set up a meeting with either Paul-Henri Mathieu or Pablo Andujar.

No16 seed Tommy Robredo, Juan Martin Del Potro and Nikolay Davydenko were also victorious.

Venus Williams saved a match point before battling back to beat Lucie Safarova 6-7, 6-2, 7-5 and reach the women's third round.

The No3 seed resumed on Court Suzanne Lenglen this morning a set down but eventually sealed victory in two and a half hours.

She said: “Yesterday, I did too many things wrong. She fired at every shot and was making them. I was very angry last night and it is just one of those matches that feels really good to win because the level of play was so high.”

Serbia's Jelena Jankovic is also through after a comfortable 6-1, 6-2 win over Magdalena Rybarikova, of Slovakia. Russian seventh seed Svetlana Kuznetsova beat Kazakhstan's Galina Voskoboeva 6-0, 6-2.

Meanwhile, Jamie Murray crashed out in the first round of the men's doubles he and Czech partner Pavel Vizner lost 6-3, 6-2 against two more Czechs, Leos Friedl and David Skoch.

Murray said: “I felt we played okay but we come off and only had five games to show for it which obviously doesn't look good.”

Court Shorts

* Fabrice Santoro played his last match at Roland Garros yesterday. The 36-year-old, who will retire at the end of the season, bid an emotional farewell but don't feel too sorry for him. Here's how he described the night before his defeat to Christophe Rochus: “I went to bed and ate a plateful of pasta. That's it. I went to bed alone. I woke up alone. Oh, it's horrible. It's a sh**ty life. Trust me.”

* Fernando Verdasco greeted Lionel Messi's goal in last night's Champions League Final with particular relish. As a Real Madrid fan, you might expect the Spaniard would have been behind Manchester United but it appears manager Sir Alex Ferguson has offended him. He said: “You all know I come from Madrid and Ferguson doesn't like us. He said many nasty things about Madrid. Barca is Spanish and I wanted them to win.”