Federer's Aussie win is first step toward Grand Slam goal

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 Chile's 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, it's really nice, no doubt," Federer said. "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 last night, 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.

Federer improved his streak to a career-best 36 wins, became the first man in the Open era to twice win three straight majors and has collected six of the last seven Grand Slam titles.

He 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.

Even before the tournament he had enough points to ensure he will break Jimmy Connors' record of 160 consecutive weeks atop the men's rankings by the end of next month.

Although he knows he's only one-quarter of the way there in 2007, a season Grand Slam is his objective. He was two sets from that last year, when he won the first set of the French Open final before losing in four to Rafael Nadal.

That was his only defeat in the last seven majors. Nadal was 26-0 on clay last season and is on a record, 62-match streak on the surface.

In the mixed doubles final, Elena Likhovtseva, of Russia, and Daniel Nestor, of Canada, defeated Max Mirnyi and Victoria Azarenka, of Belarus, 6-4, 6-4.

On Saturday, unseeded Serena Williams won her eighth and most improbable Grand Slam title, beating top-seeded Maria Sharapova, 6-1, 6-2, 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 2 weeks at Melbourne Park as she did in an injury-plagued 2006, will move from No. 81 to No. 14 and has designs on getting back to No. 1. *