Top-ranked Roger Federer claimed 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.
Stepping up his game as the match wore on, Federer's experience under pressure showed, running off 11 straight games to take control from 5-5 in the second set.
Even Baghdatis' rowdy fans, who grew in number as he knocked off second-seeded Andy Roddick, No. 4 David Nalbandian and two other seeded players in the tournament, couldn't help the Cypriot rally this time.
PHOTO: AP
The 24-year-old Federer won Wimbledon and the US Open last year and will be seeking a non-calendar year Grand Slam in May on the clay at Roland Garros, where his best performance was reaching the semifinals in 2005.
With a boisterous atmosphere more akin to a World Cup soccer final, a buzz permeated Rod Laver Arena well before the match started: Could Baghdatis -- a 500-to-1 longshot in November who had never gone past the fourth round of a Grand Slam event -- really knock off the man dominating the men's tour?
It looked improbable at best. Federer had won all three of their previous matches, including earlier this month in Doha.
PHOTO: REUTERS
But Baghdatis made believers of the crowd for a while.
It was a perfect night for tennis after two weeks of occasionally unbearable heat and sudden storms. While there were plenty of red-and-white Swiss flags scattered around the stadium, the dominant colors were Greek blue and white. Signs of "Go Marcos, You Rule" were mixed with "We Luv You Federer."
Baghdatis' backers chanted between points, giving chair umpire Pascal Maria a real challenge to maintain control. One man, in a traditional Greek outfit, danced on his chair.
As in Baghdatis' earlier matches -- including a semifinal victory over Nalbandian in which he rallied from two sets down -- the Cypriot was nerveless early, shaking off errors with stinging baseline winners.
In fact, it was the normally implacable Federer who blinked first. Serving at 5-5 in the first set, he 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.
Bagdhatis, a former junior world champion, had three game points at 5-6 to force a tiebreaker, but Federer rallied to break on a Baghdatis forehand that was ruled just long. The Cypriot, who questions calls infrequently, did this time. But TV replays showed the ruling was correct.
Federer 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 thigh 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 crosscourt set up match point, and Baghdatis netted a backhand to finish it in 2 hours 46 minutes.
mixed doubles
Martina Hingis has another Grand Slam title, her 15th, just a month into her comeback.
The 25-year-old Hingis teamed with India's Mahesh Bhupathi to beat Daniel Nestor and Elena Likhovtseva 6-3, 6-3 in the mixed doubles final.
Hingis, returning from a three-year retirement because of foot and heel injuries, also had a successful run in the singles competition, making it to the quarterfinals before losing to Kim Clijsters.
"If anyone asks me why I came back, this is why, the dream of being back on court, of winning major titles," Hingis said.
Hingis, who began her comeback in early January at a tournament on the Gold Coast, lost her serve when she and Bhupathi were up a break in the first set at 4-2. But they immediately broke Likhovtseva's serve for a 5-3 lead.
After the teams traded breaks early in the second set, Likhovtseva again had problems on her serve -- two volleying errors by the Russian gave Hingis and Bhupathi three break points.
They needed only one, breaking for a 4-3 lead when Bhupathi pounced on a volley at the net.
Hingis ran up to Bhupathi and gave him a hug at the T-line when Nestor's attempted backhand return hit the net at Rod Laver Arena to end the match.
Hingis has five Grand Slam singles titles -- three of them at the Australian Open. She has nine Grand Slam women's doubles championships among her 36 career titles but her previous best mixed doubles result was a semifinal appearance at the US Open in 1996.
Eight of Hingis' Grand Slam titles have been at Melbourne Park, including doubles crowns in 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2002.
It was Bhupathi's sixth Grand Slam mixed doubles title -- with six partners. He also has three men's major doubles titles.
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