20060129

Australian Open has come to a closure !
Roger Federer defeated Marcos Baghdatis in the Men's Singles Finals.

From: atptennis.com

Roger Federer became the first player in more than a decade to win three consecutive Grand Slam titles when he stopped the fairytale run of 20-year-old Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis 5-7, 7-5, 6-0, 6-2 in the Australian Open final Sunday. Federer, who extended his Open Era record winning streak on hard courts to 52 matches, became the first player to win three consecutive Grand Slam titles since Pete Sampras in 1993-94 (when the American also won Wimbledon, the US Open and the Australian Open).

But the World No. 1 was severely tested. After dropping serve three consecutive times, Federer needed to save two break points in the third game of the second set to avoid going down a double break.

Later, at 5-6, the second set appeared to be headed for a tie-break when Baghdatis led 40/0. But Federer won five consecutive points to break serve and level the match at one set all.

Federer improved to a perfect 7-0 record in Grand Slam finals and has won 26 of his past 27 finals. The Swiss won his first Australian Open title (the second major title of his career) in 2004 when he defeated Marat Safin in the final.

Since the beginning of the 2004 season Federer has compiled a 167-10 match record (.944) with 24 titles in the past 34 tournaments. His 81-4 record (11 titles) last year was the best since John McEnroe went 82-3 in 1984.

Federer has ranked No. 1 for 105 straight weeks (since Feb. 2, 2004), third-best for most consecutive weeks in the history of the ATP Rankings (since 1973), trailing only Jimmy Connors (160 weeks) and Ivan Lendl (157 weeks). Overall, he is sixth on the all-time list for most weeks at No. 1. In five weeks Federer will top Bjorn Borg's total of 109 weeks at No. 1.

Baghdatis, who began the tournament at No. 54 in the INDESIT ATP Rankings, became just the second man to take a set from Federer in a Grand Slam final (Andy Roddick, Wimbledon 2004). Baghdatis quickly became the story of the tournament with his engaging personality, legion of Melbourne-based Greek supporters and his stunning play, which took him to three consecutive victories over Top 10 players: No. 3 Andy Roddick, No. 8 Ivan Ljubicic and No. 4 David Nalbandian.

Baghdatis rallied from two sets down to defeat Nalbandian to reach the final in just his sixth Grand Slam tournament.

After reaching the fourth round of last year's Australian Open – when he fell to Federer 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 - Baghdatis underwent surgery to correct a congenital problem that caused a pair of muscles to constrict a nerve in his right arm. He missed two months and returned to action in April.

By reaching the Australian Open final Baghdatis should see his INDESIT ATP Ranking jump to near the Top 25.





the 1st set was impressive play by Baghdatis !
then the 2nd set was great too excpet for how it ended..
3rd set, SIGHS, Baghdatis was really off-form and his muscle pulled or something so his performance was affected greatly.
Federer, on the other hand, played magnificent tennis in the 3rd so he won 6-0.
4th set, i lost hope in Baghdatis, haha ?
well, he was injured and all so it ended there and then.
nevertheless, for an undeeded to go all the way to the Finals, that's a job well done ! :D
he's only 20 years old, he has a bright future ahead !

NEVER GIVE UP, MARCOS BAGHDATIS ! :D


the annual visting at my 2nd Aunt's place.
i was watching the Australian Open there and crapping with some cousins ! (:
this year was not bad, i thought ? HAHA

dinner was Hot Plate and Liang did all the cooking !
GREAT CHEF, he is ! :D

went home at 2300 and here i am.
NIGHTS WORLD !

23:32