Melbourne, Jan 16 (IANS): Argentina's Diego Schwartzman picked up a hard-fought 6-4, 7-5, 3-6, 6-7 (6), 6-4 win against Denis Kudla of the United States to advance to the third round of the Australian Open here on Wednesday.

In the third round, Schwartzman will now meet Tomas Berdych, a Czech, who defeated Robin Haase of the Netherlands 6-1, 6-3, 6-3 in less than an hour.

The Argentine, who arrived here after a semi-final loss to Italy's Andreas Seppi at the Sydney International, paid the price for taking it easy in the third set, and was on the verge of being ousted from the Australian Open after losing his serve in the final set, reports Efe news.

However, Schwartzman pulled himself together at the last minute and turned the tide in a match that lasted almost four hours.

The other Argentine in the running for the men's singles title, Leonardo Mayer, will play his second round match against Italian Fabio Fognini (12), who beat Spaniard Jaume Munar on Thursday.