Top seed Roger Federer overcame an early scare to ease past Marcos Baghdatis 5-7, 7-5, 6-0, 6-2 on Sunday to win the Australian Open for the second time while capturing his seventh Grand Slam title.
The unflappable Swiss rebounded from a nervous start when he dropped the first set with a string of unforced errors then trailed 2-0 in the second, to run away with the match and end Baghdatis's magical odyssey.
The unseeded Cypriot had captured the imagination of tennis fans the world over with his fairytale run to the championship match, but was unable to keep pace with Federer once the world number one raised his game.
Federer won 11 games in a row between the second and fourth sets then broke Baghdatis's serve to seal victory and become the first man since Pete Sampras in 1993-94 to win three consecutive grand slams.
Federer won Wimbledon and the US Open last year and if he wins the French Open final in June, he will become the first man since Australian Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four Grand Slam titles.
The 24-year-old Federer also joined American Richard Sears and Briton Will Renshaw as the only men to win their first seven grand slam finals. Sears and Renshaw both achieved the feat in the 1880s.
CONFIDENT START
The 20-year-old Baghdatis 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 out to a 2-0 lead in the second set as an unusually error-prone Federer struggled to find his rhythm before the wheels suddenly fell off the Cypriot's challenge.
Federer got back on level terms as mistakes started to creep into his opponent's game, winning the second set off an unforced mistake, then stormed through the third set in 24 minutes.
An early break in the fourth set gave Federer a 3-0 lead and although Baghdatis held serve to end an 11-game losing streak, his body gave in before his mind did.
He had beaten three top-10 players in Andy Roddick, Ivan Ljubicic and David Nalbandian just to reach the final, but the effort had taken a huge toll and he started to cramp up midway through the fourth set.
He received treatment to his left calf muscle and although he continued, Federer comfortably held his remaining service games to seal victory in two hours and 46 minutes.
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