Swiss ace in familiar territory

MELBOURNE: Roger Federer has missed playing in only one of the past 18 Grand Slam finals and given his extraordinary consistency of performance it's hard to bet against him winning the Australian Open.

Bookmakers have again made the Swiss legend the favorite to capture his 16th Grand Slam in the year's opening major tournament in Melbourne and given his 'renaissance' last year few, if any, are quibbling with his odds.

Just when doubts were starting to creep in that Federer's time at the top was coming to an end given the ascendancy of Rafael Nadal, he just kept on winning the big ones that mattered.