Gonzalez blasts Haas to reach Aussie Open final

Tennis Betting Lines

01/26/2007 - Melbourne, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fernando Gonzalez earned his first trip to a Grand Slam final with a straight-set victory over Tommy Haas on Friday in the semifinals of the Australian Open.

The 10th-seeded Gonzalez rolled to a 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 triumph in a mere 91 minutes and will next take on defending champion Roger Federer on Sunday. Federer crushed Andy Roddick in 83 minutes in the first men's semifinal on Thursday.

It was a near perfect effort for Gonzalez, as the Chilean committed just three unforced errors -- none in the first or third sets. He ripped 42 winners, while Haas won a total of just 42 points.

"I'm enjoying the tennis," said Gonzalez. "I've been playing the last four months at a very high level and I feel that I'm not doing too much, so that's very important, what you feel on court."

The 12th-seeded Haas lost in the Australian Open semifinals for the third time in his career, also falling short of the title match in 1999 and 2002. The German has never been to a semifinal in any other Grand Slam event.

Gonzalez's domination started from the outset. He won the first 11 points of the match and needed just 28 minutes to capture the first set.

Haas double-faulted on break point in his first service game of the second set and never recovered, and Gonzalez earned an early break in the third set to essentially finish it off.

"I played, actually, pretty good tennis," said Haas. "Every time I tried to do something differently, he came up with the answer. That's quite frustrating after a period of time. Each set, you know, you try to start well and maybe get a momentum going. He got on top of me every single time."

Gonzalez did not face a break point on his serve, blasted nine aces and had no double-faults.

If Gonzalez can match his semifinal play, the final against Federer could be entertaining.

Federer did much of the same in his semifinal rout of Roddick on Thursday, as a 6-4, 6-0, 6-2 triumph put the Swiss superstar into his seventh straight Grand Slam final.

The reigning Aussie Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open champion Federer is trying to win his third straight Grand Slam title. He already owns nine major titles and will try to become the sixth man to corral double-digit Grand Slam championships here on Sunday. Pete Sampras (14), Roy Emerson (12), Rod Laver (11), Bjorn Borg (11) and Bill Tilden (10) are the all-time leaders in major wins.

If Federer prevails here on Sunday, it would make him the only player in the Open Era to win three straight Grand Slam titles twice in his career. Only two other men have won three straight majors in the Open Era, as Laver won all four in 1969 and Sampras rattled off three straight from Wimbledon 1993 through the 1994 Aussie Open. Federer's first streak of three straight Slams came when he won Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 2005 and nailed down his second Aussie Open crown here last year.

Federer will seek his 46th career title in his 59th final (45-13) and he's going after a third Aussie Open championship, having titled here in 2004 and last year, when he topped Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis in the finale.

Gonzalez, meanwhile, became the second Chilean to reach a Grand Slam final and the first since Marcelo Rios lost to Petr Korda in the 1998 Australian Open title match.

However, his record against Federer is not very good. In fact, Federer has won all nine matches the two have played, including a pair of finals last October in Madrid and Basel.

"He's the No. 1 player in the world by far. He's the favorite," said Gonzalez. "I lost many times with him. But now I'm playing much better now than the last time that we played. And it's only one match. I'm going to give everything that I have to try to win my first Slam."

Gonzalez has seven ATP singles titles in his career, but none since taking the Basel crown in 2005.