Roger Federer came close to suffering three successive losses for the first time in five years before scrambling to a 6-7 7-6 6-0 win over Robbie Ginepri at the Cincinnati Masters Series on Tuesday.

Federer was staring defeat in the face when he lost his serve to go 5-6 down in the second set, but Ginepri, an American ranked down at 64 in the world, did not quite have what it took to close the match out.

Had he done so it would have left the door open for Rafael Nadal to end Federer's record four-and-half year reign as world number one this week.

Instead, Federer limped on into a second set tiebreak which he won only after 12 tense rallies when Ginepri hit a not too venomous forehand drive from the Swiss back across court and just wide.

Federer broke immediately at the start of the final set and the danger was over. He accelerated to 4-0, and by the end of the contest, his release of tension was palpable.