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Federer wins second Australian Open
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-01-30 09:25 CAPTURED IMAGINATION
Baghdatis had captured the imagination of tennis fans the world over with his
fairytale run to the championship match, but the ever-smiling Cypriot was unable
to keep pace with Federer once the top seed raised his game.
"It's like a dream and I've just woken up at the end," Baghdatis said.
"It's been two weeks here that has been fantastic. I'm in the final, I played
the final and I lost. It's just amazing."
The 20-year-old made a confident start in his first grand slam final,
breaking Federer's serve in the fifth game, then again in the 11th game after
handing back the initial break.
He skipped to a 2-0 lead in the second set as an unusually error-prone
Federer struggled to find his rhythm.
"I was sweating like crazy because I had to fight so hard on my own service
games and I thought, "Well, if this is gonna continue like this, I'll probably
lose and a miracle is gonna save me tonight'," Federer said.
Federer did not need divine intervention. Once he started coming to the net
more and hitting his volleys crisply, the match was as good as over.
He got back on level terms as mistakes started to creep into his opponent's
game, winning the second set off an unforced error, and he stormed through the
third set in 24 minutes.
"I really played very well the first two sets," Baghdatis said.
"Then I just started thinking and got a bit stressed out, stopped playing my
game. I made some mistakes, gave the chance to Roger to come in and play his
game and be aggressive."
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