Roger Federer celebrated a first title in his home town on Sunday after
comfortably beating defending champion Fernando Gonzalez in the final of the
Swiss Indoors tournament.
The runaway world number one wrapped up a 6-3 6-2 7-6 win to complete an
unlikely journey from Basel ball boy to tournament champion.
 Switzerland's Roger Federer
celebrates after winning his final match against Chile's Fernando Gonzalez
at the Swiss Indoors tennis tournament in Basel October 29, 2006.
[Reuters] |
"It's one of the most beautiful
moments of my career and also one of the most important to me after Wimbledon,"
an emotional Federer told the crowd after clinching his fourth successive title
and his 11th of the year. "It's just insane."
"Although I always wanted to be a professional tennis player, I never dreamed
as a ball boy that I would one day be the champion here.
"It's also my one thousandth day as world number one, so it's a very fitting
day for this to happen."
Gonzalez has now lost all nine of his matches against Federer, including last
week's 7-5 6-1 6-0 crushing in the Madrid Masters Series final, and there was
never much danger of him denying the Swiss on Sunday.
Federer took control of the first set when he broke Gonzalez with a backhand
down the line in game six and then tore through the second set after taking a
4-0 lead with two further breaks.
MORE RESISTANCE
To his credit Gonzalez showed more resistance than he did in Madrid as the
match went into what proved to be the final set.
The world number seven even managed two break points on Federer's serve when
2-1 up but the nine-times grand slam champion saved both, first with a forehand
winner and then with a service winner.
As the forehand winner left him hopelessly stranded, Gonzalez playfully slung
his racket across the court.
There was little else for the Chilean to smile about as Federer continued to
confound him, producing six break point chances of his own which Gonzalez did
well to defend.
Though unable to kill the match off at those points, Federer stepped up a
gear in the subsequent tiebreak, earning a mini-break with a fierce return on
the opening point before going on to win it 7-3.
"It's always tough to play Roger, especially in front of his home crowd,"
Gonzalez said after leaving the court.
"He's playing unbelievably, which is really good for the game -- even if it's
not so good for the rest of us."
After keeping the tears at bay as he finally got his hands on the Basel
trophy, Federer fittingly reserved his final thanks for the tournament's ball
boys and girls.
"The pizzas are on me tonight," he told them.