Federer Wins Fourth Australian Open, 16th Major Singles Title

Contesting his 22nd career Grand Slam singles final, World No. 1 Roger Federer collected his 16th major title with a 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(11) win over No. 5 seed Andy Murray at the Australian Open on Sunday.

The 28-year-old Swiss master, appearing in his 18th final from the past 19 Grand Slam events, notched his fifth win over Murray from 11 contests in the two-hour, 41-minute clash as he regained the title he lost to Rafael Nadal last year. It was a repeat of the 2008 US Open final (Murray's first in a major), which Federer also won in three straight sets.

Federer becomes the fifth man to win at least four Australian Open titles (2004, 2006, 2007, 2010) and only the second to do so at Melbourne Park alongside Andre Agassi. It is his first Grand Slam title won as a father, with his wife Mirka giving birth to twin girls six months ago.

"Coming here at the beginning of the year and playing so well, it's a beautiful feeling," said Federer, who edged ahead of Pete Sampras to win a record 15th major at Wimbledon last year. "I definitely had to play some of my best tennis tonight to come through. That was clearly the case."

Top Players Projected Route in AO 2010

Projected Routes with possible/ example opponents:
FEDERER R1 Andreev; R2 Chela/ Hanuscu; R3 Oscar H/ Montanes; R4 Hewitt/ Simon/ Baghdatis; QF Verdasco/ Davydenko/ Ferrero; SF Djokovic (or Tsonga/ Haas/ Soderling); F Nadal/ Delpo/ Murray

DJOKOVIC: Easy first week? R4 Youzhny/ Gasquet/ Robredo; QF Tsonga/ Haas / Soderling; SF Federer/ Verdasco/ Davydenko; F Delpo/ Nadal/ Murray

DEL POTRO: R1 Russell; R2 Blake/ Clement; R3 Troicki?; R4 Cilic/ Wawrinka; QF Roddick/ Gonzo; SF Nadal/ Murray; F Fed/ Djoko

MURRAY: R1 Qual; R2 Gicquel/ Bolelli; R3 Melzer; R4 Ferrer/ Monfils; QF Stepanek/ Karlovic/ Nadal; SF Delpo/ Roddick; F Fed/ Djoko

NADAL: R1 Luczak; R2 Mayer/ Lacko; R3 Isner/Kohlschreiber/ Zeballos; R4 Ljubicic/ Fish/ Stepanek/ Karlovic; QF Murray/ Monfils/ Ferrer; SF Del Po/ Roddick; F Fed/ Djoko

Also of note is a potential Roddick vs Gonzales in the 4th round (last 16) with the winner potentially playing Cilic or Del Potro.

I know there are other posts about the draw but I thought summarising the top players routes all together would be helpful.

I also thought that it would be useful to show more than one possible opponent where there isn't a clear favourite.

Can Del Potro Be No.1 as early as FO 2010?

Looking at his current Ranking points at 5,985 he could add another 1300 if he wins the title today, that means 7285 RP by the end of this year. He earned 360 Ranking Points for reaching QF on AO this year, so if he takes effort to win AO 2010 ,he could end up something around 8925, which will still be short of Fed's 9350 [even if Fed lose by 1st round].

So yea DP cant become No.1 by the end of AO, but can he achieve that feat by the end of FO? where Fed is defending 2000 Pts compared to Del Potro's 720.

Interesting things ahead, nobody spoke about him till the USO win that he could be the no.1 by the year 2010, but now there you go its well within reach of DP.

But saying all that DP have to win today's match first and then AO, which is no easy task, but I guess and hope DP will do it.