Federer Easily Advances to Final

MELBOURNE, Australia — So much for all the pre-tournament talk about how Roger Federer was distracted, aging and vulnerable here at the Australian Open, and how there were eight to 10 players here ready to knock him from his throne. After filleting Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in straight sets, now there is only one — the scrambling Scotsman Andy Murray.
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It took the world’s top player less than 90-minutes to showcase his touch shots, mastery of angles and all around court command and reach his 22nd Grand Slam Final, a record, and an eighth in a row. He broke Tsonga’s serve in the fourth game of the first set, and then toyed with the Frenchman 6-2, 6-3, 6-2.

“It’s nice going through a match like that,” said Federer. “I think against top players, it’s always positive if you can win the first set.”

Tsonga, a finalist here in 2008, and the No. 10 seed, had played back-to-back five-set thrillers, including a grueling quarterfinals victory over No. 3-seed Novak Djokovic. He was unable to make Federer face a break point, and said the world’s top player was just too much for him.

“He was really good, and that’s it,” said Tsonga, 24, who along with Juan Martin Del Potro, Rafael Nadal and Djokovic were among the up and coming challengers ready to unseat Federer.

Now, it falls on Murray, who is playing in his 17th Grand Slam, the same attempt that Federer broke through at the 2003 Wimbledon to notch his first of a record 15 major titles. Murray also is carrying the hopes of the British Empire on his thin shoulders, as he tries to take down a Grand Slam title for the first time in 74 years when Fred Perry won the 1936 United States Open.

Federer has already won the Australian Open three times, in 2004, 2006 and 2007, and is now through to his fifth final after losing an epic five-set clash with Rafa Nadal last year. He was confident, loose and jovial in the moments after the match, making it clear that he is at the top of his game.

“I know he’d like to win the first for British tennis in, what is it, like 150,000 years?” Federer joked in a courtside interview. “The poor guy has to go through those moments over and over again. He’s done tremendously. We match up well. I’m looking forward to the final.”