KEY POINTS:
Chilean Fernando Gonzalez will play world No 1 Roger Federer in the Australian Open men's singles final tomorrow after crushing German Tommy Haas in straight sets in their semifinal in Melbourne last night.
Gonzalez won 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 in 1h 31m with a minimum of fuss at Rod
Laver Arena.
The Chilean broke Haas in the opening game of the first set to establish his dominance.
From then on, Gonzalez was in control, taking the second set and breaking Haas in the opening game of the third on a dreadful error from the clearly rattled German.
It will be Gonzalez's first Grand Slam final appearance. Last night's defeat was Haas's third in the Australian Open semifinals.
Jim Courier, in awe of Federer's breathtaking 6-4, 6-0, 6-2 victory over Andy Roddick in Thursday's semifinal at Melbourne Park, said what most already thought.
"We are witnessing history. This is the most dominant athlete on planet Earth today."
Records and numbers only tell half the Federer story.
The peerless Swiss is achieving it all with the grace and style of Rod Laver and Pete Sampras, with the wizardry of ... well, Federer, and with a humility that belies his utter dominance.
Laver said: "He's a modest champion. He's a great asset to the sport."
And a class above his current rivals.
"Roger's got too many shots, too much talent in one body," Laver said.
"It's hardly fair that one person can do all this - his backhands, his forehands, volleys, serving, his court position ... the way he moves around the court, you feel like he's barely touching the ground, and that's the sign of a great champion.
"And his anticipation, I guess, is the one thing that we all admire."
For all his unrivalled on-court qualities, it is the humbleness with which Federer greets his successes that sets him apart.
There is a quiet confidence he will get there, yet the world No 1 still seems embarrassed to be prematurely anointed the finest ever to pick up a racquet.
"There's plenty I need to do before I'm the best of all time," Federer said ahead of his record-equalling seventh successive Grand Slam final tomorrow.
"So far, [I'm] a way from beating the [number of] weeks at No 1. Slams, I'm still five away.
"Jimmy Connors has 108 titles. I have 45. How can you put me in front of him in terms of titles?
"I'm not injured. I'm playing well ... but I've got to do it over and over again for another five years or so. That's the tough part."
If he could go back in time, Federer says he would love to play Laver and Bjorn Borg.
Perhaps that would settle the debate over who is the best - the debate he seems certain to settle in time anyway.
Federer grew up idolising Borg and has grown to revere Laver. Who could forget the Swiss breaking down in tears when the only man in tennis history to twice complete a calendar year Grand Slam presented Federer with his second Australian Open crown last year?
The gesture meant so much to Federer, a student of history, and he fantasises about testing his brilliance against two men many rate as the greatest. Pete Sampras holds the all-time record with 14 majors, but the purists wonder just how many more Borg and Laver - with 11 each - would have accrued had their careers not ended so prematurely, as the Swede's did, or been disrupted like the Australian's.
In an amazing career, Borg won his first Grand Slam - and first of six French Opens - at 18 years and 10 days old and his last at Roland Garros the day after his 25th birthday.
He won five successive Wimbledons, on grass, and three of them less than a month after triumphing in Paris, on clay. No one has been able to match that versatility.
Laver? Well, the mind boggles. As a professional, he was banned from the 20 amateurs-only majors between 1963 and 1968. He achieved his two Grand Slams either side in 1962 and 1969.
- AAP