Chile's Fernando Gonzalez blasted past Tommy Haas today with a faultless display of tennis to power into the Australian Open final against defending champion Roger Federer.The 10th seeded Gonzalez continued his blistering form from the earlier rounds to win 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 in just an hour and 31 minutes in another lopsided semi-final following Federer’s dazzling win over Andy Roddick yesterday.It is 26-year-old Gonzalez’s first Grand Slam final and follows his other emphatic victories here over 2005 finalist Lleyton Hewitt, in-form American James Blake and world number two Rafael Nadal.Yet again the red-hot Chilean’s big serve and forehand lifted him to victory against the mistake-prone 12th seeded German. So perfect was Gonzalez's performance that his winning match point fittingly coincided with the start of the nearby Australia Day holiday fireworks display.“Today was a really good day. In my last four matches I’ve been playing great tennis, I’m enjoying it a lot and I’m playing all over the court. I was very calm at the important moments,” Gonzalez said.Gonzalez only made three unforced errors in the match compared with 21 mistakes by Haas. “It’s not too tough for me because I’ve been playing many years making 42 unforced errors and three winners, so now I’m trying to work the points,” said Gonzalez.“I can volley better, I can play five sets if I want, I’m really happy with this.”Of his upcoming final with Federer on Sunday, Gonzalez said: “Roger is the number one by far but on Sunday we only have to play one match, there’s only one match left in this tournament. “I’ve lost many times to him but I am playing much better than the last time I played him.”Federer holds a nine-zero record over the Chilean. Gonzalez is only the third South American to reach the Australian Open final in the Open Era (post-1969) after Marcelo Rios in 1998 and Guillermo Vilas in 1977-79.It was further heartbreak for 28-year-old Haas, who was playing in his third losing Australian semi-final after going down to Yevgeny Kaflenikov in 1999 and Marat Safin in 2002.So abject was Haas’s performance that he failed to get one break point on Gonzalez’s serve in the three sets. Gonzalez, like he did in his third round win over Hewitt, played almost faultless tennis with his first error not coming until the first game of the second set.The Chilean, playing the best tennis of his life under American coach Larry Stefanki, broke the German’s serve seven times and was in complete control with his dominant forehand.He broke Haas three times to romp through the opening set in 28 minutes and then broke again in the second game of the second set to serve it out for a two sets lead. Gonzalez again broke Haas in the first and fifth games of the final set to take a throttle hold on the semi-final. Nothing went right for Haas who served four double-faults, with Gonzalez thundering down nine aces. It was Gonzalez’s second career win over Haas in as many matches.
