Men's No.4 seed David Nalbandian survived some nervous moments at Rod Laver Arena before marching into the Australian Open third round.

Nalbandian took three hours to beat 20-year-old Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka 6-4 3-6 6-4 6-2 in their second round match.

He booked himself a third round date with 26th seed Jarkko Nieminen, who beat Taiwan's Yeu-Tzuoo Wang 6-4 6-4 6-7 6-2 on Wednesday.

It was anything but an easy ride for the Argentine, forced to dig deep to swat aside Switzerland's No.2 player who produced some Roger Federer-like moments to thoroughly test Nalbandian.

If not for a dubious line call late in the third set, Wawrinka could have gone two sets to one up, but instead Nalbandian steadied to take the lead.

He then broke the spirited Wawrinka in the fourth set, grabbing a service break to go 4-2 up and maintaining the advantage despite the Swiss holding two break points on Nalbandian's next service game.

Also on Wednesday night, former Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson survived a scare from Belgian Xavier Malisse before winning an epic five-setter.

The Swedish No.10 seed took three hours and 40 minutes to beat Malisse 6-3 3-6 7-5 6-4 6-3 and earn a third round showdown with French qualifier Gilles Simon.

No.16 seed Tommy Robredo of Spain also found unseeded Russian Dmitry Tursunov hard work before triumphing 7-6 3-6 7-6 6-3.

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP