rogerfederer.com - Roger defends his title!

Roger defends his title!

It is real – Roger overcame an inspired Fernando Gonzalez to win the Australian Open finals 7-6 (2), 6-4, 6-4 capturing his 10th Grand Slam title! 15’400 spectators in Rod Laver Arena experienced a haunting Grand Slam final between our champion and a very agile and aggressive playing Gonzalez. But Roger once again showed his brilliance and is the first to win a title on a major tournament without dropping a set since Bjorn Borg in 1980. He now has been undefeated for the last 36 official matches, which is a personal record.

Roger, who was rather nervous at the beginning, struggled with windy conditions and was about to drop the first set when Gonzalez had two set points at own serve. In this crucial moment, Roger was able to turn the tide and broke Gonzalez to 6-6, forcing him into tiebreak. Roger rebounded quickly and showed his concentration and dominance prevailing the opening set 7-6 (2).

It then was about who would make fewer mistakes and the advantage went to Roger, who controlled the match thenceforward. Gonzalez committed nine more unforced errors than Roger and three times he double-faulted.

Keeping his service game consistent, Roger delivered winners 82 percent of the time on his first serve while his second serve resulted in winners an impressive 76 percent of the time.

“I’m happy that I was able to win the match in straight sets, although spectators sometimes wish to see a match over five sets.” Roger said. “Fighting off Gonzalez’ set points and dominating in the tiebreak was deciding for the match. Gonzalez played different today so it was kind of difficult to read his game at the beginning. But then I new Gonzalez would have to react after the first set and that’s how I got back at control.”

Roger improved his career record to 10-0 against Gonzalez but clearly this was the most difficult victory. Our champion was coming off a 6-4, 6-0, 6-2 dismantling of Andy Roddick and facing an opponent who had never played in a Grand Slam semifinals match much less a finals before play began at the 2007 Australian Open. It took him two hours and twenty minutes to finally shake the ninth ranked Gonzalez and capture the Australian Open Championship. The victory pushed Roger’s all time record in Grand Slam final’s events to 10-1.