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Fair Fed and an underarm blast: Australian Open briefs

Brief stories from the Australian Open on Thursday: - Fair Federer - Roger Federer spared a thought for second-round victim Filip Krajinovic after heavy rain played havoc with the schedule. The feted Swiss had the luxury of playing under the Rod Laver Arena roof when Melbourne Park was deluged on Monday, while Krajinovic had to come back on Tuesday to complete his match with Quentin Halys. It ended up being a tough five-setter -- not the best preparation for playing the all-time Grand Slam record-holder the next day. "A little bit actually," said Federer, when asked if he felt sorry for Krajinovic. "I thought it wasn't 100 percent fair he played three hours yesterday and me, zero. The rain helped me so I've got to take them when they fall this way." - Underarm blast - Daniil Medvedev admitted he had tried serving underarm in practice after Pedro Martinez tried to catch him unawares with the sneaky tactic. Medvedev said there was no disgrace in serving underarm, which has been used to good effect by Australian maverick Nick Kyrgios. "When Nick started doing it, people were, like, it's disrespectful. It's not for me. It's one of the shots which he can use good sometimes, Nick," said the Russian. "I tried some in practice, but, I mean, I'm confident in my serve, even if I don't put it in, confident that I can make an ace," added the fourth seed. - Just the ticket - Elina Svitolina came to the rescue for a fan who wanted to watch her third-round match against Lauren Davis, but had a ticket for the wrong stadium. "Noooooo. Elina's match on MCA tomorrow... I have a RLA ticket... can't watch :((((," tweeted the fan, referring to Margaret Court Arena and Rod Laver Arena, the centre court. The Ukrainian fifth seed came up trumps, however. "DM me your name and I will leave tickets for you!" she tweeted. Switzerland's Roger Federer beat Filip Krajinovic Ukraine's Elina Svitolina came to the rescue for one of her fans