Federer's furously fights for fabulous fifth in five

History was made at another Grand Slam final and this time around it was the one Federer--and we Federer fans--dreamed of.

The great Swiss won a record-equaling fifth straight title at Wimbledon after battling with archrival Rafael Nadal in an intense nerve-wracking five-set final, 7-6(7) 4-6 7-6(2) 2-6 6-2.

The match began fittingly with an ace from Federer who went on to pull ahead with a 3-0 lead as a nervous Nadal was broken in his very first service game. However, Nadal stepped up to break back and send the first set into a tiebreak. That tiebreak, won by Federer 9-7, effectually became a preview of the great battle to come.

Both players held serve during the next set before a couple of errors from Federer and a sharply hit passing backhand by Nadal enabled the latter to clinch the set 6-4 on a break of serve and level the match at one set all.

The struggle for supremacy continued into third set and Federer seemed to have gained the upperhand when he won it via another tie-break.

The hope of a four-set victory was erased however come the fourth set when Federer's serve in the opening game was promptly broken. Two games later, a break point earned by Nadal via a HawkEye challenge virtually handed him that set as the visibly irritated four-time defending champion fell behind 0-4. Nadal clearly could smell blood as he managed to close out the set at 6-2 despite an apparent knee injury.

In the deciding set, the end of his glorious reign on grass seemed nigh when Federer straight away fell behind 15-40 on his second service game. He managed to fight back to hold serve only to fall behind once again 15-40 on his next service game. This time, the King of Grass' accurate serve came to the rescue as he served two aces to hold serve once again. Then suddenly without warning, he swiftly struck a stunning blow to Nadal in the next game when he broke the Spaniard's serve to go up 4-2 in the final set with a passing forehand that threw up white chalk from the sideline. A visibly stunned Nadal could only basically watch helplessly as another series of unreturnable serves enabled a more confident Federer to easily hold serve for a 5-2 lead. Following that brilliant performance from the top seed, the end to the challenger's attempt to usurp the throne at Wimbledon came in a matter of minutes as Federer went for the jugular. In Nadal's next service game to stay in the match, Federer hit two formidable crosscourt forehands and fired a final smash at the net at his second championship point before crumpling to the ground in a mixture of ecstasy and relief.

On hand to applaud that thrilling and fitting end to a very damp fortnight of tennis was the legendary Swede, Bjorn Borg, whose grand total of 11 grand slam titles was likewise equaled by Federer with this latest victory. Federer also now has won 54 straight matches on grass which includes 34 straight in Wimbledon.

Federer is now within sight of Pete Sampras' record of seven Wimbledon singles titles and total of 14 grand slam titles.

Time to update that Nike advertisement, Tiger!
Photo credits: TOP: Chris Young/AFP/Getty Images; RIGHT: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

Canas stuns Federer in Indian Wells

Eep. Federer just got beaten by Guillermo Canas. There goes the streak. Ah, well...
Apparently Federer had some trouble with his feet and called the trainer twice. But that didn't help as Federer went down 5-7 2-6 to Canas who is understandably jubilant about his victory over the No. 1 player. (After all, he got into the tournament, despite losing in the qualifiers, only when Xavier Malisse withdrew due to injury.) The loss has left Federer with a 41-game winning streak, just five short of Vilas' record. He also would have had a chance to break another record by winning an eighth consecutive title, just to mention a few of the records that Federer could have broken had he gone on to win the title.

But as always, Federer didn't seem to take the loss as hard as his fans did. Isn't this just a blip compared to what the great man has achieved so far? In fact Federer went on to play doubles with his friend Yves Allegro (and got a standing ovation when he walked onto the court) and won that match. His fans in Indian Wells must have been happy to get another chance to see him play despite his exit from the men's singles tournament.

Federer's win-loss record for the year now stands at 12-1.

Federer reclaims Dubai title

The ever dependable Federer Express delivered again when he overcame a spirited challenge from red-hot Youzhny to reclaim the Dubai Duty Free Open title he lost last year to Nadal. This is Federer's fourth Dubai title in five years. The straight-set victory is also his 41st consecutive match that he has won since losing to Andy Murray in Cincinnati late last year, drawing him level with Bjorn Borg for the fourth-longest winning streak in history.

As usual, despite a few hiccups in his game, Federer still found a way to win the points that mattered. As he did in previous rounds, he struggled with his serve at the beginning of the match but managed to level the match in the fourth game of the first set. Then he failed to serve out the first set but won it just the same by breaking Youzhny's serve in the next game. He also had several match points on Youzhy's serve when leading 5-2 in the second set and eventually had to serve for the match.

No Federer vs. Nadal in Dubai

It takes Federer three sets to defeat Djokovic (6-3 6-7 6-3) in the quarterfinals but he breezes through to the finals with a straight sets victory over Haas. Now he has stretched his winning streak to 40 matches--just six matches shy of the record set by Guillermo Vilas! I'm just disappointed that it isn't Nadal that he'll be facing in the finals, thanks to the extreme precision of Hawkeye technology. Now that would have been an interesting final with Nadal defending his title.

Speaking of Federer's opinion about ATP's "innovations", here's another instance where the round-robin format can be very very confusing and seemingly unfair: Blake wins a round-robin match via a walkover but doesn't make it to the quarterfinals because walkovers, according to the rules, are not counted. ATP decides to bend the rules and lets Blake through...and then changes its mind later. Ouch! Poor Blake. This is the second time he's at the losing end of these round-robin mix-ups. I think I can hear Federer saying, "I told you so!"

Federer advances to Dubai quarterfinals

It looks like Roger is on his way to a fourth title in Dubai and a second title this year. He's defeated Bracciali in straight sets 7-5 6-3 extending his winning streak to 38 matches. Plus he's added to his growing portfolio of amazing shots (reminiscent of another great shot he made also in Dubai):

Federer literally brought Bracciali to his knees in the second set after hitting a spectacular shot between his legs for a winner down the line and a 5-2 lead. As the crowd roared its approval, Bracciali knelt on one knee as Federer passed him on the way to his chair.

It was so good that CNN has named it Play of the Day! (It was funny how they called Federer a Play of the Day expert on its Sports News on CNN International.) There are also a few clips of the shot posted on YouTube. But, uh-oh! I don't think John McEnroe would like Bracciali's reaction (even if he apparently did it jokingly); he's recently complained about how the other players respect Federer too much.