Roger Federer suffers shock loss at Australian Open

Swiss champion Roger Federer suffered a shock third-round loss at the Australian Open today, going down to world No.46 Andreas Seppi.

Federer's hopes of grabbing an 18th grand slam title next week in Melbourne were thwarted the Italian veteran who has never progressed beyond the fourth round of a major.

The result was as surprising as the fashion in which it was achieved, with Seppi triumphing 6-4 7-6 (7-5) 4-6 7-6 (7-5) in a match that lasted almost three hours.

Federer's ninth double-fault came in a dramatic final tiebreak, as the second seed gave up an early lead - as he did in the second-set breaker.

The match was littered with moments when the Swiss icon looked like steadying, even after Seppi grabbed the opening two sets at Rod Laver Arena.

"I just tried to enjoy playing on the centre court. It's not often I get the chance to play on centre," Seppi said.

"It's never comfortable playing against Roger ... I was focused on my service games because I didn't have many chances on his serve.

"It was one of the best matches (of my career) for sure - I won against Roger."

Seppi's reward is a fourth-round meeting against Australian young gun Nick Kyrgios or Tunisia's Malek Jaziri.