Federer wins 9th Halle title

Halle Westfalen (Germany), June 25 

Swiss great Roger Federer thrashed Alexander Zverev to win his ninth title at the Wimbledon warmup tournament in Halle on Sunday.

The top seed lost his first match of the grass-court season last week in Stuttgart to Tommy Haas, but was in imperious form all week at Halle, culminating in the 6-1 6-3 final victory over the home favourite Zverev. Federer will head into Wimbledon, which starts on July 3, as favourite to win an outright record eighth title.

Italian Open champion Zverev had won all three of his previous finals this season, but was blown away by a vintage performance from the 18-time Major champion in only 53 minutes.

“I played great, I felt good from the start,” said Federer. “It was by far my best match of the week. After my long break, I’m feeling excellent and it’s a pleasure to be back and I’m fit for Wimbledon.”

The 35-year-old, who skipped the entire clay-court season, has still only lost two matches this year en route to four titles. “My goal was to keep myself 100 percent for the grass season,” he added. “I hope that I’ll stay healthy in this second part of the season and we’ll see what happens.” — AFP