Trends favored Federer in pursuit of another Grand Slam tourney

~ The world's No. 1 player took on a 500-to-1 shot in a final that began at 2:30 a.m. today.

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Roger Federer clearly didn't want to empathize with opponent Marcos Baghdatis ahead of the Australian Open final, which took place earlier today.

The top-ranked Federer was going for his seventh Grand Slam title, facing a player who began the tournament ranked 54th in the world and was a 500-to-1 shot to win the season's first major.

Asked after his emphatic semifinal win over Nicolas Kiefer if he could remember being nervous before his first major final, Federer said the circumstances were entirely different.

He'd spent a lot of time, he said, waiting for his chance -- spending a period ranked just outside the top 100 and another just outside the top 10.

Baghdatis, on the other hand, has been an overnight sensation.

"I went into my first Grand Slam final being sort of a favorite against [Mark] Philippoussis, I thought," Federer said. "So I guess that is already different circumstances -- he's not going to be the favorite."

Sampras had won all six Grand Slam singles finals he's contested -- starting with a straight-sets victory over Philippoussis at Wimbledon in 2003 -- heading into today's match.

Baghdatis, a 20-year-old Cypriot who was junior world champion and Australian Open junior champion in 2003, had lost all three of his previous matches against Federer.

In six previous Grand Slam men's finals involving the top-seeded player and an unseeded player, the top-seeded guy has won every time.

Federer lost only four matches last year. He won Wimbledon and the U.S. Open last season and came into this Australian Open final with a 51-match winning streak on hard courts -- though he did have to survive a couple of tough five-set matches over Tommy Haas and fifth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko to reach the semifinals.

Federer was on an 11-match winning streak, including a straight-sets win over Baghdatis at Doha earlier this month.

"In two weeks, he's improved incredibly," Federer said of Baghdatis.

A win by Federer would have put him halfway to Pete Sampras' record 14 Grand Slam singles titles, but he said such marks are secondary.

"I have a long way to go -- I know that," Federer said.