No wonder Roger Federer wishes he could jump into a time machine and go back through the years to have a shot at Rod Laver or Bjorn Borg.

With no real rival in sight, the Swiss master completed the most dominant men's Grand Slam campaign in 27 years when he repelled Chilean Fernando Gonzalez at the Australian Open yesterday to win his 10thmajor crown.

Not since Borg's run to the 1980 Roland Garros title had a man won a Grand Slam title without dropping a set in the tournament.

At the speed the Federer express has been going, Pete Sampras's record haul of 14 majors will be wiped from the history books by 2008.

It took the American 12 years to amass his trophies but Federer has already scooped up number 10 in just over three and a half years.

"For me, it's really scary how many I've won," the Swiss said following his 7-6, 6-4, 6-4 win.

"If somebody would have told me I'd win 10 Grand Slams from mid 2003 till today, I never would have thought there was any chance of doing something like that.

"If I were another player, I would be amazed a little bit to see always the same guy winning."

If Federer himself is amazed, his peers must be sick of seeing him on the other side of the net.

Andy Roddick dared to suggest last week that the rest of the world was closing the gap with Federer. That theory was blown wide open when the world No. 1 pulverized the American sixth seed in the semi-finals, losing just six games.

Such is his dominance, Roddick and company may be feeling as if the old challenge round -- where winners of the previous year's competition were automatically granted byes into the final round --had made a comeback.