Roger Federer, World Number One and top seed for the 2010 Australian Open produced a masterclass of tennis to defeat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga by three sets to love.
Swiss Federer won his semi-final with the Frenchman 6-2, 6-3, 6-2.
He produced the best tennis of this tournament in a scintillating three sets, which made Tsonga – in a Grand Slam semi-final following some tough victories – appear entirely outclassed at times.
The match was finished in one and a half hours, though, in truth, Tsonga had lost heart following the first two sets, and the final set was a formality for Federer.
Federer won many of his service games to love, striking the ball beautifully, and working the ball up the lines and into the corners with deadly accuracy.
If the Swiss champion can recreate this excellent form, Andy Murray will have a huge battle to win his first ever Grand Slam against the Swiss, who will be appearing in his 22nd ever Grand Slam final. Murray, for his part, is a better player than Tsonga, who does not know how to go down without a fight: it could well be a battle of wits as well as a tennis match on Sunday evening at the Rod Laver Arena.
Both Murray and Federer are capable of producing winners that few in the game can cope with – except maybe each other and Rafael Nadal – and, while Murray leads their head to head by six games to four, Federer has won both of their previous two meetings. No-one can say with any certainty who will win on Sunday: the world awaits the Australian Open 2010 Final with eager anticipation.
In This Story: Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal is a Spanish professional tennis player currently ranked world No. 2 in men’s singles tennis by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).
Nadal has won 19 Grand Slam singles titles, the second-most in history for a male player, as well as 35 ATP Tour Masters 1000 titles, 21 ATP Tour 500 titles and the 2008 Olympic gold medal in singles and the 2016 Olympic gold medal in doubles. In addition, Nadal has held the world No. 1 ranking for a total of 209 weeks, including being the year-end No. 1 five times.
In majors, Nadal has won a record twelve French Open titles, four US Open titles, two Wimbledon titles and one Australian Open title, and won at least one Grand Slam every year for a record ten consecutive years (2005–2014). Nadal has won 85 career titles overall, including the most outdoor titles in the Open Era (83) and a record 59 titles on clay. With 81 consecutive wins on clay, Nadal holds the record for the longest single-surface win streak in the Open Era.
Nadal has been involved in five Davis Cup titles with Spain, and currently has a 29-win streak and 29–1 record in singles matches at the event. In 2010, at the age of 24, he became the seventh male player and the youngest of five in the Open Era to achieve the singles Career Grand Slam. Nadal is the second male player after Andre Agassi to complete the singles Career Golden Slam, as well as the second male player after Mats Wilander to have won at least two Grand Slams on all three surfaces (grass, hard court and clay).
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