Federer travels perfect route

~ The defending champion did not drop a set in successfully repeating.

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Roger Federer held back the tears this time. He didn't hold back much else at the Australian Open.

Federer underlined his 10th Grand Slam singles title by winning 21 straight sets, saving a set point in Sunday's final before finishing off Fernando Gonzalez 7-6 (2), 6-4, 6-4.

The last man to go through a major without dropping a set was Bjorn Borg at the 1980 French Open. The only other man to win the Australian Open without dropping a set was Ken Rosewall in 1971, although he had to play only five matches. Rosewall was in attendance at Sunday's final.

"Equaling records, doing something that hasn't been done for a long time, it's really nice, no doubt," Federer said. "All I care about in the end is to hopefully hold that trophy. Of course, now that it's over, it's great to think, 'Wow, you know, not having dropped a set.' It's quite amazing."

Federer improved his streak to a career-best 36 wins, became the first man in the Open era to twice win three straight majors and has collected six of the last seven Grand Slam titles.

He tied Jack Crawford's 73-year-old record by reaching his seventh consecutive final in majors.

"If somebody would have told me I'd win 10 Grand Slams from mid '03 till today, I never would have thought there was any chance," he said.