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BASEL (Switzerland), Oct 27: Roger Federer won his hometown tournament for a record third straight year on Sunday by beating Argentine second seed David Nalbandian 6-3, 6-4 in the Swiss Indoors final.
The world No 2 broke Nalbandian once in each set, easing through a one-sided encounter to maintain his dominance at the tournament where he once worked as a ballboy.
Nalbandian came into the match with a relatively impressive record of eight wins from 17 previous meetings with the Swiss 13-time Grand Slam champion, but never looked likely to celebrate a ninth victory on Sunday.
Federer’s service game was particularly impressive with the top seed producing eight aces and dropping just seven points on serve as he wrapped up his 57th career title without handing a single break point to his opponent.
The Argentine world No 8 struggled to make much headway with his own serve and did well to defend five break points in his second service game.
He was unable to repeat the feat two games later however when Federer produced a forehand winner down the line to earn another break chance with Nalbandian over-hitting a forehand on the next shot to finally surrender the lead.
He was broken again early in the second set by a fierce Federer backhand cross-court winner and could find no way back after that.
Sunday’s title victory was the 57th of Federer’s career and continued his strong finish to an otherwise relatively disappointing season.
MURRAY RETAINS TITLE
ST PETERSBURG (Russia): Britain’s Andy Murray beat qualifier Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan in straight sets here Sunday to successfully defend his title here at the St Petersburg Open.
Murray, the top seed and currently fourth in the world, beat 150th ranked Golubev 6-1, 6-1 in just 56 minutes to clinch his second consecutive title and fifth of the season. The 21-year-old Scot broke midway into the opening set for a comfortbale 4-1 lead.
Golubev, 21, who was playing his first ATP final, fought valiantly to limit the damage but was overpowered by Murray whose accuracy allowed him to break again in the sixth game for a one-set lead in 27 minutes.
In the second Murray confirmed his supremacy producing three more breaks to take the set and the match.
IVANOVIC TRIUMPHS
LINZ (Austria): Ana Ivanovic claimed her first title since she lifted the French Open trophy in June, beating second seed Vera Zvonareva of Russia 6-2, 6-1 on Sunday to win the Linz Open.
It was the top-seeded Serbian’s third title this year and came after a dramatic slump that followed her Paris victory and rise to No 1 in the world rankings.
The only positive aspect of the 50-minute match for Zvonareva was that she won the toss but even that turned into a negative after she elected to serve and was promptly broken to love.
She went on to lose the first eight points and was then broken a second time to fall behind 3-0 before briefly threatening to stage a comeback.
Ivanovic helped her, looking a little casual as she easily gave away several points before a careless forehand error allowed Zvonareva to break. The Russian’s revival collapsed in the next game when she double faulted three times and Ivanovic broke again to lead 4-1.
The second set followed a similar pattern, with a fifth double fault allowing Ivanovic to break to love to lead 1-0.
Another break for 4-1 when Zvonareva netted a backhand ended any suggestion of a turnaround and a further backhand error gave Ivanovic another break and the match.—Agencies
