Federer cruises to 10th major title
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — The fan's sign said it all: "Federer is betterer."
Roger Federer showed that the gap between him and the rest of the men's tennis is as large — or larger — than ever by cruising through the Australian Open without dropping a set to win his 10th Grand Slam title.
His final victim was 10th-seeded Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, who squandered a chance to win the first set Sunday and never got another breakpoint as Federer finished off a 7-6 (2), 6-4, 6-4 victory.
"If somebody would have told me I'd win 10 Grand Slams from mid '03 till today, I never would have thought there was any chance of doing something like that," Federer said.
As he closes in on Pete Sampras' record of 14 major titles, other records and milestones are being matched or surpassed along the way. With his latest victory, Federer became the first man in the Open era to twice win three straight majors and the first to go through a major without dropping a set since the 1980 French Open, when Bjorn Borg did it for the third time.
Ken Rosewall, who was sitting in the stands, was the last man to do it at the Australian Open, in 1971.
Federer also improved his winning streak to a career-best 36 matches, has been ranked No. 1 for 156 consecutive weeks and has won six of the last seven Grand Slam titles — his only loss was in the French Open final to Rafael Nadal last year.
"Equaling records, doing something that hasn't been done for a long time, it's really nice, there's no doubt," Federer said. "All I care about in the end is to hopefully hold that trophy, even though it might be 20-18 in the fifth set.
"Of course, now that it's all over, it's great to think, `Wow, you know, not having dropped a set.' It's quite amazing."
Gonzalez came into the finals hot, committing only three unforced errors in his semifinal victory over Tommy Haas. He kept Federer under pressure with his big forehand, but could not quite match the Swiss star's all-around game. Gonzalez soon was grunting, not on his shots but with effort while tracking down Federer's groundstrokes.He said Federer was simply too good."I have to congratulate again — again — Roger," the 26-year-old said. "He's on the way to be maybe the best player ever. He makes tennis very simple. He is a great champion who played a really good match today, all week — almost all his life."In bad news for the other men, Federer said his "motivation is maybe as big as ever" and that he hopes to play at least until 2012, when the London Olympics will hold the tennis competition at Wimbledon."That's a really big target for me," Federer said. "And the Slams, just try to keep it up."pras."
