No surprise to see Roger Federer made 1-14 favourite by betterbet.com to win the Australian Open. It's hardly a working mans price and in the days of betting tax would have been a losing bet but with tax free betting the 7% rate of interest in such a short space of time looks a damn sight more attractive than what the Halifax will offer you.

Federer produced another tennis masterclass to destroy Andy Roddick's Australian Open title hopes.

The world number one continued his dominance of Roddick with a 6-4 6-0 6-2 victory in Melbourne to set up a final meeting with either Fernando Gonzalez or Tommy Haas.

Federer, who had won 12 of his 13 competitive meetings with Roddick heading into their semi-final, broke in the opening game of the match to set the tone, but Roddick managed to retrieve the situation and moved ahead 4-3.

Federer will find out his opponent for Sunday's title decider on Friday when Gonzalez, conqueror of Rafael Nadal in the last eight, meets Haas.