The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Federer defends hometown title

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Federer defends hometown title

TENNIS / Hantuchova earns Championships berth with Linz win

— Photo: AFP

DOUBLE DELIGHT: Daniela Hantuchova (left), seen with Patty Schnyder, won the Linz Open and also earned a spot in the WTA Championships at Madrid.

BASEL: Roger Federer won his seventh tournament of the season on Sunday, beating unseeded Finn Jarkko Nieminen 6-3, 6-4 to successfully defend his hometown title.

Federer’s latest victory guarantees that the Swiss will finish the season as World No. 1 for a fourth consecutive year.

Federer had not dropped a single set in any of his previous seven meetings with the World No. 29 and Sunday’s Swiss Indoors final proved predictably straightforward.

A single break of the Finn’s serve at the start of the opening set and another late in the second saw Federer comfortably wrap up his 52nd career title and his third on home soil.

Federer had brought down the towering Croatian Ivo Karlovic 7-6(6), 7-6(5) to reach the final.

Federer struggled against the Croatian’s formidable serve early in the match and was forced to defend a set point at 4-5 in the opening set.

Federer missed a set point of his own in the subsequent tie-break but was offered a second chance when Karlovic slammed an easy-looking volley into the net.

The Swiss converted with a serve and volley to take the first set tie-break 8-6.

There was a momentary wobble at 4-5 in the second set when Karlovic offered Federer two matchpoints but he saved both with the help of his serve. The tie-break swung Federer’s way when Karlovic produced his first double fault to surrender an early mini-break.

Offered his third and fourth matchpoints of the encounter, the World No. 1 converted the latter thanks to a further backhand mistake by his opponent.

Grosjean triumphs

At Lyon, Sebastien Grosjean won an all-French final, beating Marc Gicquel 7-6(5), 6-4 to win the Tennis Grand Prix de Lyon.

Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova defeated Patty Schnyder of Switzerland 6-4, 6-2 to win the Linz Open.

Hantuchova’s third career title took her earnings this year to more than $ one million.

The victory also earned her the final place in the eight-player field for the WTA Championships in Madrid from November 6.

It was Hantuchova’s fourth final of the year and her second title, after she defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova to win Indian Wells and lost in Bali to Lindsay Davenport and Ana Ivanovic in Luxembourg.

The sixth-seeded Schnyder won two service games at love and came within two points of breaking again for a 5-2 lead. But Hantuchova survived that threat and then broke to love to level at 4 with two fine winners and with the help of some slack play from Schnyder.

Hantuchova, making her opponent move around and making fewer errors, broke again for the set when Schnyder put a forehand long.

Hantuchova always held the advantage in the second set.

The results: At Basel: ATP Swiss Open: Final: Roger Federer bt Jarkko Nieminen 6-3, 6-4. Semifinal: Roger Federer bt Ivo Karlovic 7-6(6), 7-6(5).

At Lyon: ATP Lyon Grand Prix: Final: Sebastien Grosjean bt Marc Gicquel 7-6(5), 6-4; Semifinal: Sebastien Grosjean bt Jo-Wilfred Tsonga 6-1, 6-2.

At St. Petersburg: ATP St. Petersburg Open: Semifinal: Fernando Verdasco bt Marin Cilic 6-2, 6-3.

At Linz: WTA Generali Ladies Open: Final: Daniela Hantuchova bt Patty Schnyder 6-4, 6-2; Semifinal: Hantuchova bt Nicole Vaidisova 2-6, 6-2, 7-6(3). — Agencies