World No. 2 Roger Federer won the 64th tour-level title of his career Sunday as he defeated Germany’s Florian Mayer 6-4, 6-3 to add the If Stockholm Open crown to his glittering collection.
The 29-year-old Federer, who has already surpassed Pete Sampras on the Open Era Grand Slam titles list, has now tied the American for fourth place on the Open Era overall titles list. It was the Swiss player’s third tour-level title of the season, following his triumphs at the Australian Open (d. Murray), where he won his 16th major title, and Cincinnati (d. Fish).
"It means the world to me to win this title. It’s always nice winning in a place like this with a tennis heritage and a lot of history,” said Federer.
Federer, who has already qualified for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, received 250 South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking points as winner of the ATP World Tour 250 indoor hard-court tennis tournament in Sweden. It is the 18th different country in which Federer has won an ATP World Tour title.
The top seeded Federer has come up against some stern resistance on his run through to the Stockholm title, including coming from a set down to defeat Stanislas Wawrinka in the quarter-finals, and was challenged by Mayer as the unseeded German broke to lead 4-3 in the first set. Federer’s response was swift and potent, though, as he reeled off three straight games to clinch a one-set lead.
The second set was a more straightforward affair for Federer, who broke serve in the sixth game before closing out victory in 63 minutes. It was his 52nd tour-level victory of the season and his second appearance in an ATP World Tour final in two weeks, having finished runner-up to Andy Murray a week ago at the Shanghai Rolex Masters.
World No. 47 Mayer was bidding to win his first ATP World Tour title after a stellar week, including a quarter-final win over No. 5 Robin Soderling. The 27 year old dropped to a 0-3 mark in ATP World Tour finals, having also finished runner-up in Sopot in 2005 (l. to Monfils) and 2006 (l. to Davydenko).
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