Federer sets up final against Murray
Roger Federer eased past Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the Australian Open semi-finals
Friday, 29, Jan 2010 10:04
By Alistair Potter.
Roger Federer set up a Australian Open final against fifth seed Andy Murray after easing past Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in Melbourne.
The top seed had too much class for his French opponent, who appeared overawed by the occasion.
Unable to live with the pace, power and control of the Swiss, Tsonga found himself on the end of a straight-sets loss 6-2 6-3 6-3.
Federer's route to the final has been relatively straightforward - only dropping two sets, one each against Igor Andreev in the first round and Nikolay Davydenko in the quarter-finals.
However, Tsonga was forced to endure back-to-back five-setters in the fourth round (against Nicolas Almagro) and in the last-eight (against third seed Novak Djokovic).
That increased workload had clearly taken its toll on the tenth seed, who looked jaded from the moment Federer broke his serve in the first set.
The world number one was ruthless in exerting further pressure on the Tsonga serve - breaking again to clinch the opening set and then a third time to move 4-2 ahead in the second.
Tsonga provided little more than occasional glimpses of the powerful and dominating performance that earned him victory over Djokovic in the quarter-finals.
And Federer took advantage, serving out for the second set before effectively ending any hopes of a comeback with two early breaks for a 5-1 lead in the third.
Without even a break-point opportunity to his name at that stage, Tsonga was clearly a huge underdog.
And although he showed heart in holding serve for 2-5 and producing a spectacular leaping volley to save the first match point in Federer's next service game, the writing was on the wall.
Tsonga put a forehand into the tramlines to hand Federer his 22nd grand slam final appearance - a new record - where he will take on Britain's Andy Murray in a repeat of the 2008 US Open final.