MELBOURNE, Australia — Roger Federer was several beers into his Australian Open victory celebration when he walked out of the men’s locker room to find Larry Stefanki, coach of Federer’s latest victim in a Grand Slam final, holding court among a group of reporters.

“You want make sure you try to win that first set, but on the other side of the coin you don’t want to put too much pressure that you have too,” Stefanki was saying.

“Is that right, Larry?” Federer shouted as he jogged past, laughing, Heineken in hand.

It’s not too difficult to talk or dream, about what it takes to beat Federer. But Stefanki and his pupil, Fernando Gonzalez, found out yet again that this 25-year-old world no. 1 — confident, impossibly smooth, and ever calm — has all the answers, no matter the plan. Gonzalez came into this final in rare form, hitting 42 winners in his semifinal match against three errors. For four consecutive matches, he served superbly, moved better than ever, and steadied his backhand. All that, and Gonzalez could not capture a single set.

Though the score was close — 7–6(2), 6–4, 6–4 — Federer controlled this major final more brilliantly than any he had in the past. He subdued an incredibly hot player, and the most powerful forehand in tennis, with quickness and finesse. His volleys were crisp, his slice backhands alternately short and deep and always well angled. When Gonzalez launched a canon forehand, Federer, his first step the most explosive, yet effortless, in the game, glided over to the ball, flicking it back. He hit many volleys with the intent of setting up second ones, rather than looking for quick winners. By the end of the match, the 26-year-old Chilean could hardly catch his breath, despite being in the best shape of his career and having played three comfortable matches in the last week of the tournament. Federer looked like he hadn’t moved.

“He’s a better player now than he’s ever been before, that’s for sure,” Mats Wilander said. “This is the best final I’ve ever seen him play in terms of being relaxed and carrying out a game plan.”

Gonzalez had two set points on his serve at 5–4 in the first set, but he missed an awkward forehand at 40–30 and soon dropped the game. Federer won the first five points of the tie breaker and gave Gonzalez little to work with in the next two sets. In the second set, he took something off his erratic forehand, using more spin, and lost two points on his serve, one of them a double fault. He lost two more in the third. After Federer ended a long rally in the seventh game of the third set with a slice backhand approach and a backhand volley crosscourt, Gonzalez was winded. He managed to keep the game at deuce five times before Federer again at the net, angled an overhead winner on break point. On match point, he flipped a Gonzalez rocket up the line (“like a flapjack at Denny’s,” Stefanki said) for a winner and fell on his back.

This was the first time a player had won a major title without losing a set since Bjorn Borg at the French Open in 1980. The last time it happened at the Australian Open, in 1971, Ken Rosewall was the champ. Federer is now the first man in the Open Era (since 1968) to win three consecutive major titles two different times in his career (Rod Laver and Pete Sampras each did it once). He’s also won a career-best 36 consecutive matches, and in February, he’ll steal another record, 160 consecutive weeks at no. 1 (now held by Jimmy Connors). Stefanki said his performance the last few years defies belief.

“A year ago or 10 months ago, I would have said no,” Stefanki said when asked if he would have thought that Federer, winner of 10 out of the last 15 Grand Slam events, could have sustained this level for this long. “Johnny Mac [McEnroe, whom Stefanki also coached] did this for a year and a half, and that was it. I’ve never seen this level. And he’s only getting better.”

Federer said he too was amazed by his success.

“If somebody would have told me I’d win 10 Grand Slams from mid ’03 to today, I never would have thought there was any chance of doing something like that,” he said. “I would have signed up for just one, you know.”

If he maintains this form, he might have three more this year. No true challenger has emerged — even Rafael Nadal, who lost to Gonzalez, has dropped his last two matches against Federer. It remains to be seen whether Federer’s dominance will do the sport of tennis any favors (though a singleseason Grand Slam surely would) or sour the taste of fans looking for more of a fight. A Gonzalez victory certainly would have made for a better story: New coach, new attitude, and new strategy transforms a first-round loser one year into a champion the next — and the first major title winner from Chile. Unfortunately for Gonzalez, there’s only room for one story in men’s tennis these days. And there are many chapters to come.

tperrotta@nysun.com