Federer Claims Hometown Trophy
Federer stopped Djokovic from defending title to claim his fourth one
Number two ATP Roger Federer claimed his fourth hometown title in career beating Novak Djokovic in three sets on Sunday’s final in Basel. The Serb, too came in Switzerland to defend his title, but the main favorite proved to be simply too good for Djokovic who ousted Federer from the US Open’s semi finals this year. However, the Swiss struggled a bit more than this summer to stop Djokovic winning the consecutive title. Thus, Federer beat world number three 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 in Basel to collect his fourth title of the season. He also won the Australian Open, Cincinnati and Stockholm trophies.
It was a welcomed success which gives Federer lot of confidence for the World Tour Finals from London, competition which takes place between 21-28 November. He got the more motivated for the next tournament he played Djokovic, one of the few players able to cause Federer lot of trouble. This was also 29-year-old’s 65th title of career that puts him fourth in the Open Era Singles Standing. Federer is just one title from breaking Pete Sampras’s trophies record, the American being now third in the Open Era with most titles. Roger beat the 23-year-old Djokovic 12 times in 18 meetings. He started very well the first set breaking the serve in the third game which proved to be crucial on his way through the final victory. But Djokovic would response in the same manner. He broke Federer once in the second set to level the set-score to one. Finally, the third set saw the two players sharing the score, but only in debut. Roger won every single game from 1-1 in the last set to win both the tournament and his second straight semi final against the younger Serb.
Federer, who played six finals here, beat everyone in Basel between 2006 and 2008. “It’s obviously a beautiful moment. It’s always very emotional and just a good feeling; I’m very happy. I’ve had a great history here. I can’t believe I’ve been in the final so many times and I’ve won already four times. I couldn’t be more happy today,” said the Swiss at the end of a beautiful home afternoon. He would admit in the same time that this was the toughest match of the week. Indeed, not only that he won every game until the end, but Federer also lost only one set in Basel, namely in the final.
He has now a tremendous 38-7 match record in the home town. Looking forward, the two keep their chances to meet again at the World Tour Finals in London. Both Federer and Djokovic have already reserved a place in London. The Serb won only two titles this year, in Dubai and Beijing, and lost the US Open final to world champion Rafa Nadal. The Spaniard won’t play at the Paris Masters in the near future due to injury. Djokovic acknowledged his weakness in the last set, claiming that he lost balance of his play.
