Tennis:Defending champion Roger Federer eased to his third Australian Open win — and 10th grand slam title — with a 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 6-4 win over Fernando Gonzalez.
The unflappable world number one survived two set-points early on but after that he was virtually untouchable against his hard-working opponent, taking two hours and 10 minutes to underline his dominance in the game.
He achieved his victory without dropping a set in the whole tournament — a feat which has not been achieved in a men's grand slam for 27 years.
However, that statistic could have been lost had Gonzalez capitalised on the only real chance he had to attack Federer early on.
The Swiss 25-year-old was 40-15 and 5-4 down but recovered to break his opponent and went on to win a tie-break 7-2 in the opening set.
The first eight games went with serve, but in the ninth Federer faced his first real challenge when Gonzalez earned a break-point at advantage.
Federer followed in his serve in an attempt to dominate the net — but having successfully dealt with the Chilean's return, the Swiss saw the ball drilled back at him again and he could only defend himself with his racket and concede the point.
Gonzalez then had two set-points in the next game at 40-15. But Federer — who has yet to drop a set in the tournament — saved one at the net, and Gonzalez thrashed the next into it.
Federer then punished his opponent to break back and level at 5-5.
The champion held his own serve and then fought back from 40-15 on the Gonzalez serve only to have four set-points and miss them all before his opponent held on to take it to a tie-break.
Federer made no mistake from there on, racing to a 5-0 lead before closing out the set.
Gonzalez immediately called for the trainer for treatment on his right shoulder.
But the injury appeared to have no effect on his service, as he came out and claimed the first game of the second set.
Everything went with serve until the seventh game, Federer gaining a crucial break when Gonzalez went for a drop shot and his opponent swooped to drill a shot down the line — which the Chilean could only hit out across court.
Federer did not need asking twice to capitalise, quickly taking a 5-3 lead and then holding serve to claim the second set 6-4 with his third ace of the match.
Federer appeared to move into cruise control in the third set as, with Gonzalez battling hard to win his first three service games, he matched the feat comfortably.
The Chilean's battling tendencies were finally worn down in game seven as Federer broke to take a 4-3 lead and from there the result was inevitable.