The Hindu : Sport : Sweet revenge for Roger Federer

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 16, 2005

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Sweet revenge for Roger Federer

- PHOTO: AP

EXCITING STUFF: Amelie Mauresmo is delighted after clinching the Italian Open.

HAMBURG: Top-ranked Roger Federer beat French teenager Richard Gasquet 6-3, 7-5, 7-6(4) on Sunday to defend his Hamburg Masters title and collect his tour-leading sixth championship of the year.

By avenging one of only two losses this year, Federer stretched an Open era record — he has now won 19 consecutive finals.

By winning his third Hamburg Masters in four years, Federer improved his record for the year to 41-2. Going back to the beginning of last year's U.S. Open, Federer has a 57-2 record.

One of those losses came to Gasquet last month in the Monte Carlo Masters quarterfinals.

On Sunday, Federer took early control and never relinquished it, although Gasquet was no pushover.

"Once you've won once or twice here, you come into the tournament with confidence," said Federer, who didn't drop a set on the way to his 28th career title.

Gasquet, 18, looks like a younger version of Federer: both use big groundstrokes, one-handed backhands, both cover the court well and can hit winners from both sides.

"I knew it would be tough, he showed today how well he can play," Federer said.

Federer was just steadier when it came to the big points. In the first set, he won his first — and only — break point to go up 2-0. That break of serve proved to be decisive.

A similar thing happened in the second. Federer converted the first of the two break points he held to go up 6-5, and he fired an ace to win the set in the next game.

Gasquet, by contrast, couldn't convert any of the five break points he gained over the first two sets.

At least he could claim to have won the most thrilling rally. In the ninth game of the second set, Gasquet raced from corner to corner to retrieve Federer's shots close to the lines and put every shot back — until Federer netted a drop volley attempt.

Neither player faced a break point in the final set and Federer was helped by a double-fault from Gasquet to go up 4-2 in the tiebreaker. But a backhand from Gasquet that went wide gave Federer two match points. He only needed one with Gasquet's forehand going out.

Federer had more winners 38 to 24, but he also had more unforced errors — 40 for 27.

Gasquet was in his second career final and could have become the youngest winner in Hamburg.

"Roger was simply better today," Gasquet said. "I had a lot of chances today, but I didn't return well the entire match and that was the key — he never lost his serve."

Now ranked 56th, Gasquet will break into the top 50 with his runner-up finish in Hamburg. He had to qualify for Hamburg.

Paes-Zimonjic falter

Leander Paes and Ninad Zimonjic lost to the eighth-seeded French duo of Michael Llodra and Fabrice Santoro 6-3, 6-2 in the semifinals on Saturday.

The sixth-seeded Indo-Serbian duo had defeated third seeds Bob and Mike Bryan in the quarterfinals. Mahesh Bhupathi and Todd Woodbridge had crashed out in the third round.

Fighting comeback

At the WTA Tour Italian Open in Rome, Amelie Mauresmo fought back to defend her title on Sunday with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over eighth-seeded Patty Schnyder.

After trading breaks early in the second set, Mauresmo became more aggressive after a verbal exchange with chair umpire Romano Grillotti.

A linesman ruled Schnyder's serve good, but Mauresmo did not play the ball, circling a mark on the clay instead.

Grillotti came down and pointed to a different mark and ruled the ball good.

Four points later, after another of Schnyder's shots landed with a visibly wide margin outside the line, Mauresmo extended her arms and glared at Grillotti in a mocking gesture.

After two more points, Mauresmo hit a forehand winner to break again and take a 5-3 lead, then held serve at love to close out the set.

In the third set, Mauresmo took control with a backhand return of serve that landed in the corner of the court to break and go up 3-2. She maintained the advantage and knelt down and kissed the clay when Schnyder's shot sailed long on her third match point.

By winning this clay-court tuneup for the French Open, which starts May 23, Mauresmo improved to 25-6 this season and 10-5 in her career against Schnyder.

It was Mauresmo's 17th career title, including her three-set victory over Jennifer Capriati in last year's final at Foro Italico.

The Frenchwoman was playing her fifth consecutive Italian Open final after losing her first three.

Schnyder won the first set with two breaks of serve, saving three break points in the final game before closing out the set with a powerful ace up the middle.

Using spins, slices and angled shots to put Mauresmo on the defensive, Schnyder also won several early exchanges at the net with passing shots.

Schnyder, who comes from the same Swiss city — Basel — as top-ranked men's player Roger Federer, was playing her first Tier I final since winning at Zurich in 2002.

She upset top-seeded Maria Sharapova in Saturday's semifinals after dropping the first set.

Currently ranked 13th, her runner-up performance should be enough to put Schnyder back in the top 10.

Germany, Chile wins

In the Arag World Team Cup that began in Dusseldorf on Sunday, Germany and Chile recorded 2-0 wins over U.S.A and the Czech Republic respectively.

For Germany, Tommy Haas beat Vince Spadea 6-2, 6-4 and Nicolas Keifer defeated Jeff Morrison 6-2, 6-2.

Chile went up 2-0 with Fernando Gonzales beating Jiri Novak 6-3, 6-1 and Nicholas Massu beating Tomas Berdych 7-6(5), 6-3.

The results: At Hamburg (Hamburg Masters): Singles Final: Roger Federer bt Richard Gasquet 6-3, 7-5, 7-6(4). Doubles: Semifinals: Michael Llodra & Fabrice Santoro bt Leander Paes & Nenad Zimonjic 6-3, 6-2.

At Rome (WTA Italian Open): Final: Amelie Mauresmo bt Patty Schnyder 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

At Prague (Prague Open) Final: Dinara Safina bt Zuzana Ondraskova 7-6, 6-3.

At Dusseldorf (Arag World Team Cup): Germany bt U.S.A 2-0 (Tommy Haas bt Vince Spadea 6-2, 6-4; Nicolas Keifer bt Jeff Morrison 6-2, 6-2); Chile bt Czech Republic (Fernando Gonzales bt Jiri Novak 6-3, 6-1; Nicholas Massu bt Tomas Berdych 7-6(5), 6-3. — Agencies

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