Fernando Gonzalez would be best advised not to check his head-to-head record against Roger Federer, the man he will face in tomorrow's Australian Open final. He has played Federer nine times and managed to win just two sets. Not two matches, mind. Two sets.

Another two sets tomorrow would not be enough to prevent Federer winning what would be his 10th grand slam title and third Australian Open on the court named after his idol, Rod Laver.

Federer is trying to get a little nearer Pete Sampras' record of 14 and take his first step to winning all four grand slams in one year, a feat only ever achieved by Laver and Don Budge.

Yet the 26-year-old Chilean is better equipped than he has ever been to cause what would be one of the biggest upsets in the history of grand slam finals.

Under the tutelage of coach Larry Stefanki, a former coach of Tim Henman and once a candidate for the job of coaching Andy Murray, Gonzalez has learned to complement his remarkably potent groundstrokes with subtle touches and changes of pace. In short, he has learned how to think.

His new-found ability to do more than blast the fluff off the ball was very much in evidence during his 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 demolition of a nervous Tommy Haas in their semi-final.

When the on-court interviewer, Jim Courier, read his match statistics to him - 42 winners and three unforced errors - Gonzalez just laughed. "That's good, because before it was usually 42 errors and three winners," he said.

He will need a similar performance against Federer, and even then a single set might be the best he can hope for.