Federer closes the book on potential fairy tale ending

MELBOURNE -- An odyssey it was for this latter-day Greek-blooded wanderer named Marcos Baghdatis, a journey filled with dangers and pitfalls that made up the Australian Open. Homer, the old Greek poet who conceived the classical warrior hero, Odysseus, would have loved the daring Baghdatis, maybe called him Odysseus Jr., in short pants and sneakers.

But there was a difference. Odysseus dodged the ogres and murderous creatures along his route and got home safely. Baghdatis was close -- close but no baklava. The dessert was just out of his reach.

Still, a no-name from tiny Cyprus when the fortnight began, 20-year-old Baghdatis made the tournament go round. Crashing only the second final of his in-and-out career, he jammed up and removed three of the prominent hazards lurking along his international route: No. 3 Andy Roddick, an American; No. 4 David Nalbandian, an Argentine; and No. 7 Ivan Ljubicic, a Croat.

At No. 54, Baghdatis had decimated 30 percent of the top 10. He felt like Odysseus escaping the dreaded lifetakers Scylla, Charybdis, and Polyphemus.

But then yesterday, confronted by a monster identified as Federer, Baghdatis was devoured, 5-7, 7-5, 6-0, 6-2, after resisting for 2 3/4 hours.

From the land of timepieces, Switzerland, came Federer, a human alarm clock with grasping, choking hands. The Federer specializes in wake-up calls, jangling reminders that in this conflict called tennis nobody gets away from him.

And so, Baghdatis said, ''My dream ended."

But it was a beautiful dream that lasted 65 minutes. During that early passage, Federer was gasping and grumbling, missing and mumbling, not acting like his old self.

Baghdatis's was a reverie in which he was the star. He felt alone, untroubled out there in Rod Laver Arena, unintimidated, with the place all to himself as the full house of 15,000 rained praise on him. Jumping on Federer's serve with blasting backhands, retrieving sensationally, he won the first set, had a break of serve in the second, and two more break points to go ahead, 3-0.

It was then that the real Roger Federer showed up. He needed a wake-up call more than Baghdatis feared one, and rang some bells within himself.

''I was struggling to hold serve," Federer said after nailing his seventh major championship and third in a row. This one he tacked onto the 2005 successes at Wimbledon and the US Open after falling in the French semis to Rafael Nadal, a Spaniard not in Melbourne because of injury. ''Yeah, fighting so hard to win points on serve," he said, as though such difficulty was beyond imagination.

Baghdatis was all over Federer during his 65 minutes of belief, a one-man firing squad of rousing shotmaking, sending back balls better than he received. Was this upset of upsets going to occur?

No, but it was fun while it lasted.

Difficulty in getting tickets for the sold-out showdown diminished his rabid Greek chorus in number. The shouting blue shirts, accompanied by a couple of dancers, were split into two small groups, one on either side of the park, echoing each other as in a canyon. But they were just as loud in their war cries for Baghdatis, and Federer may have heard them in his sleep.

He laughed at that. ''Compared to that New York crowd for Andre [Agassi in the US final], they were nothing," he said.

But Federer, who was nothing himself for the 65 minutes, said, ''I had to weather a storm. I felt the pressure of being such a huge favorite, and . . . sure . . . I could have lost. I was worried."

Worry made Federer hurry into his persona. ''I was too passive," he said. ''I had to get aggressive."

Later, relieved, handed the trophy by his idol, Rod Laver, in the arena named for the great Australian Grand Slammer, Federer broke out in tears, and he had trouble expressing himself.

But not on the green pavement once the Baghdatis storm had subsided. Federer, equal to his foe in errors at 48, made too many during the 65 minutes. His forehand wavered as he lagged for the first break to 2-3. Though Federer broke back immediately, Baghdatis, relentless, got the set. Federer labored six minutes to hold serve in the opening game of the second set -- and couldn't.

The next time he served was a seven-minute ordeal, but Federer could feel -- and everyone saw -- that his fearsome forehand was back in town. One of them knocked away a break point. A service winner canceled another, and he was 1-2, not 0-3. He was beginning to coax mistakes from Baghdatis with low slices, and forays to the net. Baghdatis's wonderful adventure was just about over, although he would have to stick around until Federer's last chip-and-charge return did him in on match point.

''I was beginning to think," Baghdatis sighed, citing a mental failing. A cramp was beginning in his legs, causing him to topple for a moment in the fourth set. ''I started thinking about winning. A set up, a break in the second, and I got stressed. I stopped playing as I had, and gave him too much time to play his game, to come in, be more aggressive.

''Everything was beginning to go too fast."

The dream was about to evaporate. Federer was dusting lines with his serve, swooping for volleys, changing the speeds and spins masterfully, driving forehands to the corners. From 5-5 in the second he went on a monstrous 11-game, 57-minute procession, decorated with the bagel, to 3-0 in the fourth.

Now Federer is pursuing Pete Sampras, holder of the majors record, 14, and Laver, whose glittering collection of titles includes Grand Slams of 1962 and 1969. No man has come close since. Mats Wilander won the first two majors in 1988, but he knew that Wimbledon wasn't his meat.

Laver, though, has given Federer his blessing, believing he does have a chance. Next stop, Paris in May.

''It's interesting that Pete and I got the seventh [major] at just about the same age, 24," Federer said, not immodestly. ''I've won seven of my last 11 majors, and I must say that's incredible."

Only he and Sampras have won three straight since Laver.

Baghdatis's family lives in a Cypriot village called Paramytha (fairy tale in Greek), and for two weeks he also resided in a fairy tale. But such stories can be populated by monsters, as he found at the strangulating hands of Federer.