Gonzalez sets up Open final with Federer
The only man who has shown he might be able to beat Roger Federer at the Australian Open now has his chance.
Chilean Fernando Gonzalez powered into a men's singles final showdown with world No.1 Federer on Sunday night with a 6-1 6-3 6-1 semi-final demolition of German Tommy Haas at Rod Laver Arena on Friday.
Playing the best tennis of his life in Melbourne, 26-year-old Gonzalez has been in the mythical "zone" on his unstoppable march through to the Open final over the past fortnight.
And there was more near-flawless tennis from the 10th seed against Haas in a match Gonzalez parcelled up in a tick over 90 minutes.
He broke the German early, made just three unforced errors in the match and didn't offer a break point at any stage to his rival.
As he did in eliminating Lleyton Hewitt, James Blake and second seed Rafael Nadal on his way to the semi, Gonzalez launched forehand winner after forehand winner to shatter Haas and leave the 12th seed an Australian Open semi-final loser for the third time.
"Tonight, I'm very calm at the important moments," Gonzalez said.
"I have nerves but they make me focus.
"It was a really good day for me."
After whipping through the first set in 28 minutes, Gonzalez maintained complete control throughout the second.
Then he broke Haas in the opening game of the third on a dreadful error from the clearly rattled German.
Haas limply tapped an approach shot into the net to hand Gonzalez the first of three breaks in the set.
A shell-shocked Haas said he took his hat off to his opponent and the exceptional tennis he played.
"Pretty much everything he touched tonight seemed to go his way," Haas said.
"I thought tonight I didn't play so bad. Every time I tried to do something different, he came up with the answer."
Now Gonzalez, after appearing to channel Federer throughout his past few matches, gets his chance to square off against the sport's benchmark on Sunday night.
Top seed Federer hammered sixth seed Andy Roddick in straight sets on Thursday night to book his final berth.
While Gonzalez took eight minutes longer than Federer's semi-final demolition the previous night, he conceded one less game to his opponent and was no less impressive than the world No.1.
He landed 87 per cent of his first serves in and hit 42 winners, including 18 on his unstoppable forehand.
Playing in his first Grand Slam semi-final, Gonzalez also showed no outward signs of nerves.
And perhaps in an indication just how the planets are aligning for the Chilean in Melbourne, the moment he went to salute the crowd after his win, celebratory fireworks around the city to mark Australia Day started going off.
But Gonzalez concedes going one better than his countryman Marcelo Rios did in 1998, when Rios lost the Australian Open final in straight sets to Petr Korda, will be difficult against Federer.
""I'm playing the most important match of my life against the best player of the last however many years," he said.
"It will be a tough match, but it's very exciting for me."
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