Federer annihilates Roddick to reach final

MELBOURNE, Jan 25 (Reuters) Top seed Roger Federer put on a virtuoso display to blow away Andy Roddick 6-4 6-0 6-2 and reach the Australian Open final today.

The Swiss defending champion unleashed an unstoppable barrage of winners to shatter the American sixth seed and book a place in a record-equalling seventh consecutive grand slam final.

''I was really worried going into this match he had been playing so well. I played incredibly well,'' Federer said in a courtside interview.

''I had one of those days where everything worked. It's just unreal, I'm shocked myself, I don't know what to say.'' Federer won a tight first set after breaking in the ninth game and served out to win it with his sixth ace, but it was one-way traffic after that as the world number one took 11 straight games against a shell-shocked Roddick.

The Swiss raced through the second set in just 22 minutes, using a bewildering array of shots from the back of the court to frustrate Roddick.

Roddick ended the streak at 11 games to make it 2-1 in the fourth but Federer broke again to make it 4-1 and sealed victory in 83 minutes on his second match point with a forehand winner, his 45th of an astonishingly one-sided semi-final.

Federer will play the winner of Friday's semi-final between Chilean 10th seed Fernando Gonzalez and German 12th seed Tommy Haas in the final when the Swiss will bid to win his 10th grand slam title.

REUTERS SAM PM1601