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MELBOURNE - Andy Roddick recovered from a set and a break down to beat wildcard Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-7 7-6 6-3 6-3 in the Australian Open tennis championship first round today.
The sixth-seeded American lost a marathon first set tiebreak 20-18 -- to equal the longest in tournament history
-- and was 5-2 down in the second before he recovered to down the gangling 21-year-old Frenchman.
World No 212 Tsonga, whose only previous grand slam match had been a first-round loss to Roddick at Roland Garros in 2005, was broken to love when serving for the second at 5-3 and Roddick levelled before racing through the tiebreak 7-2.
The 2003 US Open champion broke in game eight of the third before serving it out 6-3 and two more unanswered breaks in the fourth from the increasingly confident American sealed victory in two hours and 44 minutes.
- REUTERS