Melbourne: Roger Federer completed his preparations for a tilt at Pete Sampras's record of 14 Grand Slam titles with an easy 6-1, 6-3 victory over Swiss compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka at the Kooyong Classic on Saturday.
Federer captured his second title in the eight-man invitational event, which he traditionally uses to fine tune his game before his Melbourne Park campaign.
He also won in 2005.
Federer missed the tournament last year due to illness and was subsequently knocked out in the semi-finals of the Australian Open.
After his 57-minute victory on Saturday, he said he was confident of adding to his three other Australian Open titles.
"I played plenty of matches, so that's not the issue; no health problems, feeling fresh and fit and ready to go and excited, so things are the way I was hoping them to be," the world No. 2 said.
"Last year was more just a race trying to get in shape, or in decent shape for the first round, so it is quite different. I couldn't really work on anything. I was just trying to hopefully hit a few times before Monday, and then ...just hoping I got through the first round and then sort of feel my way into the tournament."
"This time it's different, just because I've been playing plenty of matches ...(and I have) higher expectations than last year. I always feel on the day I'm going to play well at the slam, and it's going to take an incredible performance by somebody else to beat me," he said.
Federer set the tone for the Kooyong final against his Beijing gold medal winning doubles partner early, breaking the 23-year-old Wawrinka in the first game.
He broke Wawrinka three times in the first set to take it 6-1 before he broke again early in the second set to take a 2-0 lead.
Wawrinka put up more of a fight after that, but by then the result was a seemingly foregone conclusion with the 27-year-old Federer sealing victory with a smash from the net after he had worked Wawrinka around the court.
In the third-place playoff, Spain's Fernando Verdasco used a booming serve and powerful forehand to beat Chile's Fernando Gonzalez 6-4 6-3 in 47 minutes.
Nalbandian wins Sydney
David Nalbandian made clear his Australian Open intentions to all and sundry on Saturday by swiping the Sydney International title.
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Certainly his final opponent Jarkko Nieminen was left in no doubt as to the burly Argentine's determination as Nalbandian ground out a gutsy 6-3,6-7, 6-2 win on a chilly night under floodlights.
"It has been a very positive week," Nalbandian said.
"I will go to Melbourne with a lot of confidence. I have played good tennis from the very beginning of the week."
The Australian Open starts on Monday and Nalbandian will be 10th seed.
The Sydney second set was tight but in essence the gulf in class between the world No. 11 and his Finnish opponent was vast for much of the clash.
The dark-shirted Nalbandian was all gritted teeth and clenched fist as he took his 10th career title from 20 finals.
Nieminen, who beat world No. 3 Novak Djokovic on Friday, was simply unable to keep up with the Argentine's viciously punched groundstrokes and superior courtcraft.
The only slip Nalbandian made was when serving for the match at 5-4 in the second set he allowed his focus to blur and was broken to love.
That momentary momentum shift buoyed Nieminen -- or Nemo as the Sydney crowd affectionately branded him -- and he held three set points at 6-5 but Nalbandian fought back to force a tiebreak.
Nieminen needed six more in the tiebreak before finally levelling the match but Nalbandian eased into the driving seat once again in the third.
The tennis was not always pretty and Nalbandian showed more than his fair share of nerves but that was matched by grit and determination as he closed out the match on his second championship point with a smash.
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