Josh Meiseles
Roger Federer further cemented himself as the grass king on Sunday at the Gerry Weber Open capturing an unprecedented eighth Halle title and 15th overall crown on the surface.
The World No. 2 overcame a strong test from Andreas Seppi to prevail 7-6(1), 6-4, claiming their third FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting of the year. Federer improved to 12-1 against the Italian, firing 14 aces and 36 winners, while staving off all four break points faced.
A day after earning his 50th match win in Halle, Federer became just the third player in the Open Era to claim at least eight titles in a single tournament, joining Rafael Nadal and Guillermo Vilas.
Nadal has won nine times at Roland Garros and eight in Monte-Carlo and Barcelona, while Vilas emerged victorious on eight occasions in his home capital of Buenos Aires.
“I think that I did very well here in the tie-breaks,” said Federer. “I served well which you have to on the grass. I was able to mix it up, so I created a good pattern going into the tie-break. My opponent wouldn’t quite know where it’s going to go and if he knew where it was going to go it was going to be tough for him to defend. I think I did a really nice job this week on these situations.
“I think one big secret on grass is when to hit which shot and playing the score the right way. You might be playing perfect but then in one moment you take a bad decision and grass makes you pay for it all. So, this week has been great if I look at the whole thing. I don’t think I got broken anymore the last four matches I played. The first match was extremely close but I won all the tie-breaks this week, which gives obviously big confidence knowing that in the crucial moments my game was right there.”
One of 13 players aged 30 & over in 2015, Federer brings home €381,760 and 500 Emirates ATP Ranking points. He improved to 86-44 in tour-level finals and is now eight titles behind Ivan Lendl for second on the Open Era list.
*Culled from www.atptour.com