Federer Beats Gonzalez, Wins Aussie Open

MELBOURNE, Australia - Roger Federer captured his 10th Grand Slam singles title without dropping a set at the Australian Open, beating Fernando Gonzalez of Chile 7-6 (2), 6-4, 6-4 in Sunday's championship match.

Federer improved his winning streak to a career-best 36 matches and advanced through a major without dropping a set for the first time.

It was the first time since Bjorn Borg won the 1980 French Open title that a champion went through a major without dropping a set, and the first time at the Australian Open since Ken Rosewall in 1971.

Federer became the first man in the Open era to twice win three straight majors and has won six of the last seven Grand Slam titles - his only loss was in the French Open final to Rafael Nadal.

By reaching the final, Federer tied Jack Crawford's record of playing in seven consecutive finals at the majors, set in 1934.

"It is just wonderful. I have had a great run here again this year," Federer said. "I am very proud to be holding this trophy again."

Gonzalez, seeded 10th and in his first Grand Slam final, kept Federer under pressure with his big forehand, but could not quite match the all-court game of the player who has been ranked No. 1 for 156 consecutive weeks.

He broke Federer in the ninth game, the first break point chance of the match, and had two set points in the next game but failed to convert.

Federer broke back to level at 5-all, then had four set points in the next game before Gonzalez held in a game that went to deuce seven times and forced a tiebreaker.

Federer dominated the tiebreaker, jumping out to a 5-0 lead after winning a challenge against an incorrect baseline call to have the first point replayed.

Gonzalez, the Olympic doubles champion, had conceded only two points on serve in the second set until Federer broke to lead 4-3.

Federer fired an ace to close the second set and broke Gonzalez in the seventh game of the third. He set up triple championship point with a forehand winner and closed it with a backhand down the line.

He fell to his back, rolled over and then got up, hit a ball into the stands and took a bow. He held both arms high before throwing his wristband into the crowd.

For the match, Federer lost only 17 points in 16 service games plus the tiebreaker, and dropped only two points on serve in the last set.

Federer had 45 winners and only 19 unforced errors - just four in the final set - and dropped only one service game in the 2-hour, 20-minute match.

Gonzalez, who had only three unforced errors against Tommy Haas in the semifinals, had 28 against Federer to go with 31 winners.

The first set lasted 65 minutes, two minutes longer than Serena Williams needed to win the women's final 6-1, 6-2 over Maria Sharapova on Saturday afternoon.

Williams stayed in Melbourne on Sunday and was at Rod Laver Arena watching the men's final.

Just as in last year's victory over Marcos Baghdatis, Federer had to beat an opponent who had become a crowd darling.

Amid chants of "Vamos Fernando!" and "Come on, Speedy!" one particularly fervent fan clutched the corners of a Chilean flag and kissed the corners on key points.

Federer had plenty of backers, too, including his parents, who came to watch him play in Australia for the first time, and a number of faces painted like the Swiss flag. One fan waved a sign that proclaimed "Federer is betterer," and the Swiss star backed it up.

Gonzalez was trying to run around his backhand to whip powerful forehands and Federer sought to keep him from doing it, leading to a number of backhand-to-backhand rallies.

But while Gonzalez has improved his backhand, the most glaring weakness in his game, Federer showed he can rip winners from either side.

Gonzalez was grunting, not on his shots but with effort from tracking down Federer's groundstrokes to the corners. He stumbled and fell once and nearly a second time, and frequently tied his shoes to buy time.