Tipsarevic, who reached his first Grand Slam quarter-final here last year, looked like he was on his way out when he trailed French wild card Guillaume Rufin by two sets, but the Serb fought back to win 4-6, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-2.

Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller and Estonian Ernests Gulbis were the other marathon men on Wednesday. Muller knocked out 28th seed Mikhail Youzhny 2-6, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (8/6), while Gulbis ended the hopes of 21st seed Tommy Haas, winning 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5, 6-3.