Second seed Roger Federer picked up his 14th grass-court title with a 7-6(2), 7-6(3) victory over Alejandro Falla in the final of the Gerry Weber Open on Sunday.
This was Federer’s seventh title at Halle, where he now has a 46-5 record.
Federer had an opportunity to serve for the first set at 5-3 after breaking Falla in the eighth game. But Falla broke right back, and both held serve after that to force the tiebreak. From 2-2, Federer reeled off five straight points to wrap up the set. Federer broke Falla in the first game of the second set, but once again Falla responded by breaking back immediately. With no further breaks, Federer took a 3-0 lead in the tie-break, and rode that out to clinch the match.
“I’ve left a little bit of my heart there,” Federer said after his ninth Halle final. “My big goal for the week was to collect the title, play good tennis and have fun. I’ve done that.”
Over at the Queens Club in London, Grigor Dimitrov won the Aegon Championship with a 6-7(8), 7-6(1), 7-6(6) win over Feliciano Lopez.
Also triumphing was Ana Ivanovic, who captured her first ever grass-court title beating Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova 6-3, 6-2 in the final of the Aegon Classic in Birmingham.
Ivanovic will move up to World No.11, well positioned to make another move during Wimbledon, which would lift her back into the top ten for the first time in five years.