Roger Federer Rallies from 2-Set Deficit to Beat Julien Benneteau

Roger Federer, the world's greatest grass-court player, narrowly escaped an upset in Wimbledon's third round by virtual unknown Julien Benneteau. This uncomfortable victory comes on the heels of Lukas Rosol's unthinkable second-round upset of Rafael Nadal.

Friday's final line looked as follows in favor of Federer: 4-6, 6-7 (3-7), 6-2, 7-6 (8-6), 6-1.

Federer had a multitude of unforced errors and, despite a handful of double-faults, Benneteau's powerful serve kept him consistently off-balance. Federer failed to steal early momentum, and that gave the Frenchman confidence for the rest of the match. The Swiss legend managed to steal a few break points here and there, but his inconsistent groundstrokes doomed him far too often.

All in all, Federer looked like he was taken by surprise. An unlikely foe had an upset in mind, and Federer couldn't establish himself until it was nearly too late. He gained strength as the match went along, while Benneteau battled cramps and didn't seem like himself for most of the match.

The all-time winningest Grand Slam champion managed to push the fourth set to a tiebreak before mustering the strength for a comeback in the decisive fifth. His approach shots were off, but Federer battled through adversity to claim the tense victory.

Without his laundry list of Grand Slam experience, I'm not sure the Swiss Maestro would have escaped.

You would be hard pressed to find an avid tennis follower who didn't have either Federer, Nadal or Novak Djokovic in Centre Court's final match. In some combination, two of tennis' elite players have to make the finals.

Nadal's loss on Thursday jostled that comfortable possibility, but Federer's embarrassing defeat would have derailed all rational thoughts.

Federer was 61-7 in his Wimbledon career prior to his latest match. His remarkable resume includes six career Wimbledon titles, including five straight from 2003-2007, and he hasn't lost in the quarterfinals at All England Club since 2003.

Upsets like this just aren't supposed to happen, but it nearly did. Though Benneteau may not be as surprised as everyone would think. He has experience against Federer, and he's beaten him before. The 30-year-old Frenchman defeated Federer (world's No. 1 at the time) in the 2009 Paris Masters (3-6, 7-6, 6-4), but this would have been utterly shocking.

This is a player whose highest career ranking is No. 32; Federer has held the world's No.1 ranking for 285 weeks in his career.

Benneteau has never won a title. In fact, he's never advanced past a Grand Slam quarterfinal (2006 French Open). Federer has won 16 career Grand Slam titles and is arguably tennis' greatest player of all time. Their career resumes couldn't be further apart.

Still, we've seen Federer struggle in recent years. He's only reached one Grand Slam final (2011 French Open) in the last three years, but this is Wimbledon. If it weren't for Pete Sampras' seven career titles, the All England Club could be called "The House That Roger Built."

Tennis fans expected one final, heroic gasp from Federer. Wimbledon has always been his comfort zone, and Benneteau nearly dispelled those convictions.

Federer will play Xavier Malisse in the Round of 16 on Monday, while Benneteau licks his wounds.