Fed Ex crushes Roddick

MELBOURNE – A rampaging Roger Federer crushed Andy Roddick to book his seventh consecutive Grand Slam final yesterday as Serena Williams rolled back the years to make a date with Maria Sharapova.

The defending men’s champion was in a class of his own against the sixth seeded American, who could only watch bemused as the Swiss maestro rang him in rings to win 6-4, 6-0, 6-2 in just 1hr 23mins. The lopsided contest reinforced the yawning gap between Federer and everyone else as he strode towards a tenth Grand Slam trophy.The statistics pointed overwhelmingly in his favour.Roddick has now won only one of his 14 matches with Federer and has to go back nine matches to Montreal in 2003 for his last success.Of Federer’s 11 Grand Slam finals he has won nine, spelling dire trouble for whoever wins the second semi-final between Germany’s Tommy Haas and Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez today.Williams, 25, also showed why she is a seven-time Grand Slam champion, beating Czech tenth seed Nicole Vaidisova 7-6 (7/5), 6-4.Written off before the tournament, she proved she still has what it takes as she bids to become the first unseeded player to win the championship since 1978 when Australia’s Chris O’Neil lifted the trophy.It is her first Slam final in two years and waiting for her will be Sharapova, who rode roughshod over tournament favourite Kim Clijsters 6-4, 6-2, drawing the curtain on the Belgian’s Australian adventure for the last time.Clijsters, 23, is retiring at the end of the year to settle down and start a family.Williams, whose performance here will rocket her back into the top 20, was overjoyed as her remarkable comeback from injury continues.Williams, the 2003 and 2005 champion, had to fight hard for the win and said she feared choking as the Czech stormed back into the match, but hung on to claim victory in one hour 46 minutes.Clijsters said she was going to miss everything about Australia after she hangs up her racquet.Nampa-AFPThe lopsided contest reinforced the yawning gap between Federer and everyone else as he strode towards a tenth Grand Slam trophy.The statistics pointed overwhelmingly in his favour.Roddick has now won only one of his 14 matches with Federer and has to go back nine matches to Montreal in 2003 for his last success.Of Federer’s 11 Grand Slam finals he has won nine, spelling dire trouble for whoever wins the second semi-final between Germany’s Tommy Haas and Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez today.Williams, 25, also showed why she is a seven-time Grand Slam champion, beating Czech tenth seed Nicole Vaidisova 7-6 (7/5), 6-4.Written off before the tournament, she proved she still has what it takes as she bids to become the first unseeded player to win the championship since 1978 when Australia’s Chris O’Neil lifted the trophy.It is her first Slam final in two years and waiting for her will be Sharapova, who rode roughshod over tournament favourite Kim Clijsters 6-4, 6-2, drawing the curtain on the Belgian’s Australian adventure for the last time.Clijsters, 23, is retiring at the end of the year to settle down and start a family.Williams, whose performance here will rocket her back into the top 20, was overjoyed as her remarkable comeback from injury continues.Williams, the 2003 and 2005 champion, had to fight hard for the win and said she feared choking as the Czech stormed back into the match, but hung on to claim victory in one hour 46 minutes.Clijsters said she was going to miss everything about Australia after she hangs up her racquet.Nampa-AFP