Federer Wins His Seventh Grand Slam Title

Federer Wins His Seventh Grand Slam Title

Published: 1/29/06, 8:25 AM EDT

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) - Roger Federer won his seventh Grand Slam title Sunday, overcoming an early challenge from unseeded Marcos Baghdatis to win the Australian Open 5-7, 7-5, 6-0, 6-2.

Federer's experience under pressure showed as the top-ranked stepped up his game in the second set and won 11 straight.

The 24-year-old Federer won the Wimbledon and U.S. Open titles last year. He will try to win his fourth straight major later this year on clay at the French Open - the only Grand Slam he has never won.

The Swiss broke down in tears after receiving the champion's trophy from Rod Laver, the last man to sweep all four Grand Slams in the same year, in 1969.

"I guess it's all coming out now," Federer said. "I've had some hard speeches, but this one is a little rough right now."

Federer then thanked Laver, his voice breaking one last time, and embraced the 67-year-old Australian.

"I was so happy," Federer said later. "Then I had to go up on stage and speak. This is really too much for me sometimes. It's just a dream come true every time I win a Grand Slam."

Baghdatis, a Greek Cypriot who had Melbourne's large Greek population behind after him knocking out four seeded players, had never gotten past the fourth round at a Grand Slam event before this year.

"It's a dream come true," Baghdatis said after having to playfully shush his cheering fans. "It's just amazing. I love everybody watching in Cyprus. Kisses."

The atmosphere at Rod Laver Arena was electric as the 54th-ranked Baghdatis tried to beat the most dominant man on the ATP Tour for the first time in four attempts.

For a while, at least, it looked possible.

Baghdatis was solid early, shaking off errors with stinging baseline winners. And it was normally implacable Federer who blinked first.

Serving at 5-5 in the first set, the Swiss fended off two break points before committing back-to-back forehand errors - the latter after he halted his service motion after a fan shouted, "Settle, Roger, settle!"

Flashing his infectious smile and using his racket to bounce the ball once between his legs before each serve - a move that he picked up from watching Federer - Baghdatis held easily to finish off the set as the crowd roared.

He broke Federer again to start the second set and had two break opportunities to go up 3-0 before Federer fought back to level at 3-3.

Baghdatis, a former junior world champion, had three game points at 5-6 to force a tiebreaker, but Federer rallied to break on a forehand from Baghdatis that was ruled long. The Cypriot, who questions calls infrequently, did so again. But TV replays showed the ruling was correct.

Federer, who also won the Australian Open in 2004, ran off 27 of the 37 points in the third set to take control.

Baghdatis had played two consecutive five-setters and three overall in the tournament, and the wear and tear started to show. He suffered a cramp in his left calf in the second game of the fourth set, and the brilliant winners came less often as the errors piled up.

Federer won his 11th consecutive game to go up 3-0.

Getting treatment on his calf at every changeover, Baghdatis tried to rally one last time and had a break point with Federer serving at 4-2 that would have gotten him back on serve, but Federer held, then broke for the eighth time. A forehand across court set up match point, and Baghdatis netted a backhand to finish it.

Federer is drawing comparisons to Pete Sampras, who won 14 Grand Slams in his career and was the last man to win three consecutive majors (Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 1993, and the Australian Open in '94).

Their birthdays are four days apart, and they won their seventh Grand Slams at the same age.

"It's quite scary if I compare it," Federer said. "I'm on the same road but I've got to maintain it. It would be great to challenge it, but it's not my first priority."

The stadium was filled with plenty of red-and-white Swiss flags, but the dominant colors in the crowd were Greece's blue and white.

Signs of "Go Marcos, You Rule" were mixed with "We Luv You Federer."