Roger Federer cruises to 10th Swiss Indoors title in Basel
- Published
Federer was playing in his 13th consecutive Swiss final, his 15th overall
Roger Federer captured his 10th Swiss Indoors crown with an emphatic 6-2 6-2 victory over Alex de Minaur.
The 38-year-old Swiss maestro extended his winning run to 24 matches in the event and sealed his 103rd ATP title.
He broke twice to take the first set in 34 minutes against the world number 28, playing his only sixth ATP final.
Federer, competing in his 157th ATP final, duly sealed victory in one hour eight minutes against the Australian, 20, for his fourth title of the season.
De Minaur was also seeking his fourth title of the season and attempting to become the first Australian winner of the Swiss event, which was first played in 1970.
But he had no answer to the composed brilliance of Federer, who broke for the first time in the fourth game with a perfectly controlled overhead.
Federer then produced a majestic forehand, followed by an ace down the T-line, to move three games ahead in the second set and serenely completed his fifth Swiss triumph in the past six years.
The 20-time Grand Slam winner, who first reached the Swiss final in 2000, is now only six short of the ATP record for singles titles, held by Jimmy Connors.
In his first meeting with De Minaur, Federer converted four of 10 break points and did not drop serve in a superb performance, which included prevailing in a 39-stroke rally.
"I thought Alex played a great tournament as well, and I think we both can be very happy," he said. "But what a moment for me to win my 10th here in my hometown of Basel. I made very few unforced errors and came up with the big shots and served well when I had to."
In the Erste Bank Open in Vienna, Austrian top seed Dominic Thiem won his fifth tournament of 2019 when he fought back to defeat Argentine Diego Schwartzman 3-6 6-4 6-3.
The 26-year-old world number five won in two hours 25 minutes for his 16th ATP title.