Defending champion Roger Federer swept to his 10th Grand Slam title with a commanding straight sets victory over Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez in the final of the Australian Open on Sunday.
The peerless Swiss world number one fought off two set points in the opening set and went on to secure his third Australian title with a 7-6 (7/2), 6-4, 6-4 win over the Chilean 10th seed.
He joined American Bill Tilden as joint fifth on the all-time Grand Slam title list with 10, behind American Pete Sampras’s 14.
Federer also became only the fourth man to win a Grand Slam title without dropping a set, the last being Sweden’s Bjorn Borg at the 1980 French Open.
The mercurial Swiss went into the final having already equalled Australian Jack Crawford’s all-time record for seven consecutive Grand Slam final appearances.
It was Federer’s 36th consecutive match win for his longest winning streak as he claimed his 46th title.
Gonzalez, who went into the final in unbelievable form after blowing away 2005 finalist Lleyton Hewitt, fifth seed American James Blake, world number two Rafael Nadal and triple Australian semifinalist Tommy Haas, was poised to take the opening set with two set points.
But the champion Swiss, who hasn’t lost a set in his last 11 matches, rose to the challenge and fought off the threat with brinkmanship tennis.
He put Gonzalez’s backhand under unrelenting pressure after winning the 63-minute opening set struggle and went on for his 10th straight win over the Chilean.
Federer now has a 10-1 record in Grand Slam finals with his only loss coming against Spain’s Rafael Nadal in last year’s French Open, which is the only Major title he has yet to win.
Gonzalez, with the reputation of one of the heaviest forehands in men’s tennis, was steadily taken apart by the clinical top seed.
He got the capacity crowd roaring when he broke Federer’s service in the ninth game and raised two set points on his next service.
Federer was in danger of dropping a set for the first time in 11 matches, but fought them off and broke back to 5-5.
Federer had four separate set points of his own on Gonzalez’s serve in the 12th game before the Chilean held to take the set to a tiebreaker.
The world number one took a grip of the tiebreaker, racing to a 6-2 lead and claimed the opening set with a forehand winner.
He then took charge in the second set with a service break in the seventh game and had little difficulty on serve to hold three set points and take a two-love lead with an ace.
The Chilean looked under more strain against the remorseless Federer, who was steadily cranking up the pressure on his opponent.
Federer got his decisive breakthrough in the seventh game, taking the break on his fourth break point at the net by putting away a volley.
He served out for the championship in the 10th game and claimed match point with a backhand winner.
Despite the loss Gonzalez, whose game has been revitalised by American coach Larry Stefanki, is projected to climb to five on the next rankings.
He is only the third South American to reach the Australian Open final in the open era (post-1969) after Chile’s Marcelo Rios in 1998 and Guillermo Vilas of Argentina in 1977/79. — AFP
