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Federer retains Hamburg title
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-05-16 09:39
World number one Roger Federer avenged himself upon wonder-kid Richard
Gasquet quicker than he can have ever expected when he beat the 18-year-old
Frenchman in the final of the Hamburg Masters Series.
Swiss tennis player
Roger Federer, holds the trophy after his final against French Richard
Gasquet at the ATP Masters Series tournament in Hamburg, northern Germany,
on Sunday, May15, 2005. Federer won in three sets 6-3, 7-5 ,7-6.
[AP] |
It was Federer's shock loss to Gasquet in last month's Masters Series in
Monte Carlo that triggered a three-week absence from the tour with inflamed
feet.
His 6-3, 7-5, 7-6 (7/4) success here also earned him his 41st win in 43
matches since last year's US Open, extended his all-time record of consecutive
winning finals to 19, and retained his Hamburg title.
"This is not just a build-up to the French Open, this is a big tournament and
one that I was pleased to win and am just as pleased to defend," said Federer.
"I was concerned about what Gasquet did to mys econd serve in Monte Carlo and
I was glad to be able to stop him doing that here."
He was always strong favourite for the title, even on his least favourite
surface, but it was long odds that Federer should have had the revenge chance
against Gasquet, who had had seven matches in nine days, two in the qualifying
competition.
This marathon schedule, greatly reduced Gasquet's chances of becoming, just
six weeks before his 19th birthday, the third youngest player ever to win a
Masters Series title.
"I was a little bit tired, but it's a final and that's different. I had a
little bit of pressure, but after a while I felt okay," the Frenchman said.
"I won seven matches in the tournament and lost to Roger Federer, so it's
still been fantastic for me. I have gained a lot of experience and confidence."
Gasquet only did himself justice in flashes and the match had a slightly
surreal flavour with the roof pulled over even before the start in case of
showers, giving a slightly sepia tinge to a blossom-laden May day.
There was also a hint of nostalgia about Federer's classic game, full of
flowing drives and frequent net attacks which prevailed over the youngster's
harder serving and more ambitious ground strokes.
Federer came to the net almost three times as often as Gasquet and more often
mixed in short slices to take his opponent out of his comfort zones.
But the biggest difference was Federer's capacity to win the big points,
Gasquet being unable to convert any of his five break points and having his
defences broken by the sudden surge of driving pace with which Federer snatched
a crucial mini-break two rallies before the end.
Gasquet seemed more nervous than usual both before and during the first set
of his biggest final so far.
His famously fluent backhand was spluttering and he contrived to lose his
opening service game even though Federer was showing signs, not for the first
time this week, of starting slowly.
The teenager double-faulted on the second point and lost a crazy seventh
point in which he volleyed a ball which appeared to be going out and let drop a
lob landing six feet in.
That put him break point down and that lost game was the difference between
them in the first set, even though Federer was making errors with drops and
short slices and had to save three break back points in the seventh game.
The second set however saw Gasquet begin to fire. He earned two more break
points in the second game - again unconverted - and in the ninth game revealed
some of his most dashing moments.
Once the teenager ran back for an attempted pass, whipping it cross court for
a winner in the opposite direction to that in which he was moving.
Three rallies later he had the crowd in its feet after a sequence of
spectacular retrieves which conjured a point from an apparently lost cause.
However, Federer hung on to his serve all through and things fell apart for
Gasquet when he played one bad service game at 5-5 and it cost him the set.
It also cost him the chance of gaining control of the match too, though there
were anxious moments between the two sets when the trainer had to take the
scissors to a massive bandage on his left foot.
He made no mistake however and after a short time out Federer's foot seemed
more than equal to the task of continuing.
The third set went with serve right through, with Federer wearing an
increasingly casual air, and Gasquet realizing that a sudden surge from the
champion was imminent.
When it came, with a backhand-down-the-line and forehand-down-the-line
combination to get him to 5-4 in the tie-break with two serves to follow, it was
predictable but nonetheless unstoppable.
It was not a top class performance but it was an eloquent one, saying much
for Federer's clay court credentials that he should have won so well in what was
his last build-up tournament before the Grand Slam event in Paris.
That should have confirmed the world number one, already a winner of the
other three Grand Slams, as one of the front-runners, along with Spain's Rafael
Nadal and Argentina's Guillermo Coria, for the French Open.
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