HALLE, June 25, 2017
Roger Federer won his ninth Gerry Weber Open title in Halle, starting perfectly and never looking back against #NextGenATP German Alexander Zverev. The top seed from Switzerland won Sunday’s final 6-1, 6-3.
Federer was in total control of the match, saved the only break point he faced, converting four of his own to seal victory in only 53 minutes.
How @rogerfederer claimed his NINTH 🏆 in Halle#GerryWeberOpen pic.twitter.com/gS7b7JFn1b
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) 25. Juni 2017
Federer has now won nine Halle crowns, joining him with Rafael Nadal as the only two men in the Open Era who have won a tournament more than eight times. Nadal has won 10 Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell and Roland Garros titles.
Federer improves to 4-0 in title matches this season, having won the Australian Open, the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells and the Miami Open presented by Itau. He and Nadal are now tied for the lead this season.
“It’s great to get off to a good start in the finals and then remind yourself that you’ve been playing good tennis all week. You start swinging freely, things start clicking, you realise your opponent is under pressure and you keep pressuring him,” Federer said.
“It gives me great confidence. Of course I’m like on ‘Cloud Nine’ right now after the ninth win here in Halle. It’s a wonderful feeling to win here again because I’m not sure if I’ll ever get a chance to win this again so it’s important to enjoy this one.”
Zverev was playing for the Halle title for the second year in a row and was going for his fifth career crown. The 20-year-old German has already won three titles this season – Montpellier, Munich and Rome.
Zverev had beaten Federer only a year ago in the same stadium, outlasting the Swiss in a three-set semi-final to reach the 2016 Halle final.
“I think Roger is playing really, really well. I think going into Wimbledon he’s going to be probably the favourite to win the whole thing. So credits to him, he played an unbelievable match. Of course I could have played better but he didn’t really let me play my best tennis. He messed with the ball a lot. He played very aggressive… I think he deserved to win,” Zverev had to admit.
Kubot/Melo Takes Doubles Crown
Lukasz Kubot from Poland and Brazilian Marcelo Melo continued their dominance on grass this season by taking the doubles title. The team defeated Alexander and Mischa Zverev 5-7, 6-3, 10-8 to capture their fourth doubles titles this year, having prevailed at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events in Miami and Madrid, in addition to last week’s grass-court event in ‘s-Hertogenbosch.
Their victory in Halle after one hour and 24 minutes also further extends their lead in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London.
“It’s a great feeling. We won our first grass title last week and we’re very happy to continue that. We’re enjoying the moment and continuing our winning ways. We’ve had the best preparation possible for Wimbledon, so we’re very happy about that,” told Kubot.
“I’m really happy to win the title with Lukasz. We’ve had two really great weeks of preparation for Wimbledon, so now we need to go for it,” Melo added.
