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| January 27, 2007 | Saturday | Muharram 07, 1428 |
Gonzalez routs Haas to set up Federer final
MELBOURNE, Jan 26: Cavalier Chilean Fernando Gonzalez took a leaf out of Roger Federer's book by racing to his first Grand Slam final in double quick time with an emphatic win over Tommy Haas on Friday.
The dashing South American blasted the German away 6-1, 6-3, 6-1, losing one fewer game than final opponent Federer in his humiliation of Andy Roddick to set up a mouth-watering final on Sunday.
After earning the chance to become the first Chilean man to win a Grand Slam title, however, it did not take long for reality to set in.
His prize for such a dynamic display is a date with the all-conquering world No 1, a man the 10th seed has never beaten in nine attempts.
But before he began to plot a way to snap Federer's 35-match winning streak, Gonzalez was basking in his moment of glory.
He lit up Rod Laver Arena on Australia Day with a bewitching array of winners. As he sealed the 91-minute destruction with a fizzing backhand crosscourt passing shot, fireworks exploded over Melbourne Park to greet his moment of triumph.
Gonzalez has taken over the baton from last year's finalist Marcos Baghdatis in capturing the public's imagination with his swashbuckling demeanour on court.
He ripped local favourite Lleyton Hewitt's dream to shreds in the third round and has not looked back since. With fifth seed James Blake and second seed Rafael Nadal also falling under his spell, Gonzalez has lived a charmed life over the past fortnight.He conjured 42 sizzling winners on Friday and made Haas's life a total misery as only three unforced errors flew off his racket in the entire contest.
In fact, Haas would do well not to read the statistics from the match as it could prove to be a painful experience. He did not earn a single breakpoint and watched winner after winner from Gonzalez flash past him.
For a man who is no stranger to adversity having sat out the entire 2003 season with a shoulder injury, the German came into the contest with high hopes of reaching his first major final.
He left court a broken man, shaking his head in disbelief and desperate to escape an arena which had turned into his own personal torture chamber.
For Gonzalez, things could not be better.
The Chilean will, however, need to come back down to earth quickly if he is to have any chance of stopping defending champion Federer's charge towards a 10th Grand Slam title.
While Gonzalez will nervously bide his time for the next 48 hours as he tries to weigh up his options, Cara Black and Liezel Huber will be out celebrating.
The African duo scooped the women's doubles title, thwarting Taiwan's Chuang Chia-jung and Chan Yung-jan's historic bid to win their country's first Grand Slam title.
Zimbabwean Black and South African Huber ended the Taiwanese wildcards' title hopes with a 6-4, 6-7, 6-1 victory.
Chuang and Chan already created history when they become their country's first grand slam finalists after they had dispatched reigning champions Yan Zi and Zheng Jie of China in the semi-finals.
Results (prefix number denotes seeding):
Men’s singles:
Semi-final: 10-Fernando Gonzalez (Chile) beat 12-Tommy Haas (Germany) 6-1, 6-3, 6-1.
Women’s doubles:
Final: 3-Cara Black (Zimbabwe)/Liezel Huber (South Africa) beat Yung-Jan Chan/Chia-Jung Chuang (Taiwan) 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 6-1.
Mixed doubles:
Semi-finals: Daniel Nestor (Canada)/Elena Likhovtseva (Russia) beat 7-Kevin Ullyett (Zimbabwe)/Liezel Huber (South Africa) 6-2, 7-5; Max Mirnyi/Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) beat 4-Jonas
Bjorkman (Sweden)/Francesca Schiavone (Italy) 6-2, 6-3.—Reuters
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