Jolly Roger plunders Spanish treasure

Roger Federer added yet another accomplishment to his already impressive resume Sunday at the Madrid Masters.

The top-ranked player in the world, Federer claimed his fourth Masters Series title of the year and his first in Madrid with another emphatic victory over the Chilean 10th seed Fernando Gonzalez.

With the 7-5 6-1 6-0 victory, Federer claimed his 10th title in 2006 and the 43rd of his career while remaining perfect in eight meetings with Gonzalez.

Having dismissed the fourth seed David Nalbandian in the semi-finals, Federer's toughest game against Gonzalez was the very first on his serve.

Misfiring three times with his forehand he was taken to deuce three times before holding. But from there Federer soon found his rhythm and it was just a question of how long Gonzalez could stay with him.

To Gonzalez' credit he did so for the first 11 games of a high quality opening set. Using his big serves nd a barrage of brutal forehands to test the top seed as much as he could, Gonzalez made Federer work to win the opening set.

Gonzalez served at 5-6 in the first set and failed on a couple of chances to force the tiebreak.

The Swiss clinched the set with a smash on his second set point.

Federer, who missed the Madrid Masters for the past two years, won the last 11 games of an increasingly one-sided contest clinching the title in an hour an 47 minutes. Federer lost only one point on his serve in the second set, and although the Chilean had two break points in different games in the third set, they were quickly irradicated.

As a result Federer claimed a career-best 82nd win of the season. It was also his 19th victory in a row.