Federer dominates in final
He won his 10th Slam title without losing a set, making quick work of Gonzalez.
MELBOURNE, Australia - Roger Federer held back the tears this time. He didn't hold back much else at the Australian Open.
Federer underlined his 10th Grand Slam singles title by winning 21 straight sets, saving a set point in yesterday's final before finishing off Fernando Gonzalez, 7-6 (2), 6-4, 6-4.
The last man to go through a major without dropping a set was Bjorn Borg at the 1980 French Open. The only other man to win the Australian Open without dropping a set was Ken Rosewall in 1971, although he had to play only five matches.
"Equaling records, doing something that hasn't been done for a long time," Federer said. "It's really nice, no doubt. All I care about in the end is to hopefully hold that trophy. Of course, now that it's over, it's great to think, 'Wow, you know, not having dropped a set.' It's quite amazing."
Rosewall was in the crowd yesterday, and Federer gave him a nod in a composed victory speech. It was the mere presence of another Australian great, Rod Laver, that reduced Federer to tears the previous year at the trophy presentation.
"I can't force them out every year!" Federer said of his sobbing celebration in 2006, when he accepted the trophy from Laver. "I had a wonderful tournament. A great end. Just because there were no tears doesn't mean it doesn't mean anything to me."
Laver, the last man to win the Grand Slam - all four majors in one season - made the trip from California to see Federer dismantle Andy Roddick, 6-4, 6-0, 6-2, in the semifinals.
He met with Federer in the locker room after the semifinal and said he had little doubt the 25-year-old Swiss star could beat Pete Sampras' record 14 Grand Slam singles titles, and just about every other tennis record as well.
"The best way to beat him would be to hit him over the head with a racket," Laver joked in a newspaper column.
Federer improved his streak to a career-best 36 wins and tied Jack Crawford's 73-year-old record by reaching his seventh consecutive final in majors.
"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," he said.
It was close in the beginning.
Gonzalez broke Federer in the ninth game and had set points at 5-4, but was unable to convert the opportunities. Both players agreed that was the turning point.
"I have to congratulate - again - Roger," Gonzalez said. "He's on the way to be maybe the best player ever. He is a great champion who played a really good match today, all week - almost all his life. So I can take a lot out of this tournament."
On the women's side, Serena Williams won her eighth and most improbable Grand Slam title, beating top-seeded Maria Sharapova, 6-1, 6-2, on Saturday in one of the most lopsided finals at the Australian Open. Sharapova left for Tokyo yesterday, knowing she would assume the No. 1 ranking the following day.
Williams, who played about half as many matches in two weeks at Melbourne Park as she did in an injury-plagued 2006, stuck around to watch the men's final. She will move from No. 81 to No. 14 and has designs on getting back to No. 1.
Gonzalez advanced five places to No. 5 after his celebrated run to his first Grand Slam final, according to ATP projections.