Federer claims seventh Halle Open
Grigor Dimitrov wins Queen's Club tournament and Ana Ivanovic captures her first grass-court title at the Birmingham Open
Roger Federer of Switzerland won the Halle Open in Germany for the seventh time by defeating Alejandro Falla of Colombia 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-3) in the final on Sunday.
Federer fired five aces and saved three of the five break points he faced on his way to the title. It was the 14th tennis title on grass and 79th overall for the 32-year-old Swiss ace.
The seven-time Wimbledon champion improved his record to 46-5 in 12 appearances at the tournament where he made his debut 14 years ago.
My big goal for the week was to collect the title, play good tennis and have fun. I’ve done that
“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.”
Falla said: “He’s the king of kings of tiebreaks. Overall I played very well throughout the whole week and I want to keep it up.”
The 69th-ranked Falla was the first Colombian to reach the final of a grass-court tournament. He was playing his second on tour after he finished runner-up to Ivo Karlovic at Bogota last year.
Top-seeded Rafael Nadal was knocked out in the second round by the 85th-ranked German wild card Dustin Brown, who became the lowest ranked player to defeat a world No 1 since No 98 Mardy Fish upset Federer at Indian Wells in 2008.