|
|
|
| January 30, 2007 | Tuesday | Muharram 10, 1428 |
Federer wants Grand Slam hunting until 2012
MELBOURNE, Jan 29: Roger Federer is looking to play on for five more years as he chases more Grand Slam glory following his 10th major tennis title in the Australian Open.
The world number one crushed the spirit of Chile’s 10th seed Fernando Gonzalez in the final after fighting off two set points in the opening set before clinching his third Australian crown, 7-6 (7/2), 6-4, 6-4 on Sunday.
Federer joined American Bill Tilden as joint fifth all-time Grand Slam title leader with 10 behind American Pete Sampras’s 14.
He also became only the fourth man to win a Grand Slam title without dropping a set, the last being Sweden's Bjorn Borg at the 1980 French Open.
“You can never say for sure, but I hope to play at least until the Wimbledon (London) Olympics in 2012,” Federer said. “That's a really big target for me. And in the Slams I'm just trying to keep it up. I'm getting closer every Grand Slam I've played now to Sampras. I hope to keep it up.”
It was a career-high tournament for Gonzalez, who has improved his ranking to five after playing in his first Grand Slam final. “I know that I can go forward. This tournament was really important for me -- not only in the numbers, but in my game,” Gonzalez said.
“I can still play in best-of-five-set matches. I did six (wins), but I play four in a really good level.”
World number two Rafael Nadal left Melbourne with more questions raised than answered after his straight-sets quarter-final battering by Gonzalez.
The Spaniard blamed an upper-thigh injury for restricting him and now has gone 11 tournaments and eight months without a title since his back-to-back French Open triumph over Federer at Roland Garros.
American sixth seed Andy Roddick offered the chance of closing the gap on his nemesis Federer but instead was demolished in straight sets in just 83 minutes in a lopsided semi-final.
Roddick, who has tennis great Jimmy Connors in his corner, said he will keep working hard in pursuit of his nemesis.
It was third time unlucky for German Tommy Haas whose Australian Open semi-final jinx came back to haunt him as he lost emphatically to Gonzalez.
It was a humiliating end for Haas in his third Australian semi-final and who had been playing sizzling tennis up until meeting the Chilean, but he was powerless as Gonzalez made just three errors.
American fifth seed James Blake came into the Open as one of the form players, winning the lead-up Sydney International, but he, too, became a victim of the whirlwind Gonzalez, going out 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) in the fourth round.
At 27, the clock may be ticking for Blake in the Grand Slams having never got beyond a quarter-final in 20 attempts.
Scottish teenager Andy Murray signalled his immense promise by taking Nadal to five contested sets in the fourth round.
Murray, 19, who has taken over as Britain's number one from Tim Henman, holds the distinction of being only one of two players along with Nadal to defeat Federer last year.
Australian Lleyton Hewitt, a 2005 finalist, crashed out to Gonzalez in the third round, raising conjecture about his immediate tennis career after he finished with his lowest end-year ranking (20) in 2006 for seven years.
Russian Marat Safin admits he has a long way to catch up with the leading players after failing to overcome Roddick and get beyond the third round.
The volatile Russian, who has been champion and runner-up twice in his previous four visits to Melbourne, had an injury-marred 2006 and acknowledged that he was a long way from recapturing his best form.
Another Russian and world number three Nikolay Davydenko played most of his matches on outside courts before he went out to Haas in the quarter-finals.—AFP
|
|
|
|
