[Oyabun]

No stopping the fed express

Roger Federer has claimed his third Australian Open crown, sweeping aside No.10 seed Fernando Gonzalez in three outstanding sets on Rod Laver Arena.

Against a white-hot Gonzalez, Federer might have had cause to be worried about his title defence. He was forced to produce his very best tennis, but in his typical ice cool manner, made it look all too easy, claiming his third Norman Brookes Challenge Cup 7-6(2) 6-4 6-4 in two hours and 20 minutes.

Neither man was at his dazzling best in the first set, which saw them test each other out for much of the first few games. The unforced errors, which were so scarce from both men in the semifinals, mounted up, with Federer in particular, looking vulnerable. Gonzalez took his first chance to break the Swiss in the ninth game, but Federer saved two set points at 40-15 on Gonzalez's serve and then levelled it at 5-5 with some powerful tennis in the next game.

The tempo, and the quality, of the match, lifted decisively at the business end of the set. Federer willed his way to four set points in Gonzalez's next service game, but wasted them, as the Chilean pushed the set into a tiebreaker with an outstanding winner. But that determination went missing, as Federer won the first five points en route to wrapping up a one-set lead with a forehand winner which completely wrong-footed his opponent.

The second set looked to be headed down a similar path to the first, with both players growing increasingly confident on their serve. Ominously for the Chilean, Federer's service game was close to impenetrable, and he would only drop two points on serve for the set. That meant when Federer broke in the seventh game, the set followed soon after, and Gonzalez, who outside that break, had only conceded three points on his serve for the set, faced a mountain to climb.

Federer's hold on the match only strengthened, as he took Gonzalez to deuce in three out of his first four service games. It took three break points before a determined Gonzalez relented, conceding the seventh game, and giving Federer the match on his racquet. It was an advantage Federer was never going to squander, and he wrapped it up with successive outstanding winners.

Pictures of federer and gozalez


Picture of Federer after his finals match