Black Tennis Pros

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga provided little more than a sparring session for Roger Federer before the Swiss turns his guns on Andy Murray – and the exciting young Frenchman does not think much of the Scot's chances.

Federer was so totally in control after a brief tussle at the start that the scoreline of 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 disguised his dominance. He outserved Tsonga, he toyed with him from deep and at the net, he found little challenge in any but his few brief attacks in the first set and, generally, left feeling as good about his game as it is possible for the world No1 to feel.

If he played like that in the final, Tsonga was asked, was there anyone who could beat him? "I think ... nobody," he said.

What could Murray do to stop Federer? Longish pause, then: "I don't know, I don't know."

Did he have any advice for Murray, then? "Advice? Be ready to run."

If that is not a depressing report card for Murray as he works out a game plan for Sunday, nothing is. It reflected reality, too.

Federer was, as the Australians say, awesome. And he barely got out of third gear. From the moment he broke Tsonga in the first set the match turned from contest to punishment. Tsonga developed a stitch or some sort of stomach complaint when he found himself stuck deep in the trenches, but Federer was not concerned about the quality of his opponent or his hunger for the fight. This was a result, pure and simple.

"I didn't expect something even close to this kind of scoreline," Federer said. "The crowd was rather on the quiet side towards the end because they were also a bit surprised how fast it went."

The great man was fed a couple of sycophantic lines, and bit. Yes, he agreed, that he might be at "Federer-plus" now. "I'm hitting the ball well. I'm not panicking. Jo is a talented player, with a lot of potential. I'm sure we're going to see much more of him in the future. This is probably the last easy match I have against him.

"[There was] no wasted energy, that's for sure. I was very surprised the way the match went. He's got great potential, but tonight maybe he let his head hang a bit."

What of his motivation, though? With a record 15 grand slam titles to his name, would it be an effort to get himself up for a 16th? "I spent three weeks here," he said, "and I don't want to just give away a match. So, I will make it as hard, as tough as possible, for my opponent. I'm really where I want to be. Being back in a grand slam final is always an amazing thrill for me."

En route, it provided a frisson for Tsonga, one that passed in the blinking of an eye as a genius blurred in front of him. Federer's is in phenomenal shape. He has struggled briefly earlier, but this semi-final fine-tuned his tennis to threatening levels of all-round competence. Murray has his work cut out.