A step away from pinnacle, Federer gets the No.1 spot

Roger Federer routed Spain’s Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-4, 6-1, 6-4 on Friday to reach his maiden Australian Open final and take the world N...

Roger Federer routed Spain’s Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-4, 6-1, 6-4 on Friday to reach his maiden Australian Open final and take the world No.1 ranking for the first time. The Wimbledon champion and second seed knocked all life out of his opponent in 89 minutes before kneeling on centre court and saluting the awe-struck crowd. “I knew I had the chance to be No.1 in the world,” he sighed with relief. “Maybe I have a poker-face most of the time but I felt nervous.”

Those nerves were never on show as the stylish Swiss hit shots lesser players can only dream of, humbling the French Open champion and third seed in the process. Federer will face mighty Marat Safin in Sunday’s final after the unseeded Russian downed defending champion Andre Agassi in five sets on Thursday.

Federer can be assured vocal support from the ever growing Swiss contingent. Looking forward to Sunday’s showpiece, Federer said: “(Marat is) a great player, it will be a great match. He’s in the finals and it’s very nice to see.” If Federer can reach the heights he scaled in this semi-final, it is hard to see how Safin could live with him.

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On the Rod Laver Arena he bore down on the net, setting out his game plan from the beginning. Slashing his serve out wide or into the Spaniard’s body, he followed his first one in and cut off the rangy Spaniard’s angles.

On his second serve he stayed back, thrashing groundstrokes from side to side as Ferrero scampered to hunt the ball down. Far from opening defensively, though, Ferrero patrolled the baseline looking for the smallest of openings, pummelling the ball into the smallest of gaps in Federer’s armour.

-Reuters

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