Federer lifts ninth Halle Open title

Swiss legend Roger Federer has clinched his ninth Halle Open title after beating hapless Alexander Zverev 6-1, 6-3 in the final.

The top seed Roger Federer showed no mercy with fourth seed Alexander Zverev after wrapping up his ninth title in his 11th Halle final within 53 minutes on Sunday, reports Xinhua news agency.

From the start Federer piled on the pressure to establish a 4-0 lead meanwhile local hero Zverev was unable to gain a foothold into the first set. Thus, the 18-time Grand Slam champion sealed the first set 6-1 with only 22 minutes played.

Zverev grabbed a better start into the second set yet the German was unable to break through Federer's faultless service despite one break chance in the opening game.

The former World No. 1 continued powerful and made use of break chances in the 6th game to ensure the 4-2 lead in the second set.

Alexander Zverev failed to stop Federer's momentum as the Swiss sewed up the match on his first match ball to reap his 92nd career title.

"It is a dream to start a final like that and to pull through then. I played great today. Everything worked out really well. It was by far my best match of the week. Alexander also played a great tournament," Federer said after winning the warm-up tournament for Wimbledon.

"It is unbelievable how he plays with 35 years. He does things on the court we will probably never see again in Tennis. It is always a joy to play against him, only today it wasn't. He could have been a little nicer to me," Zverev said.

With this result, Federer won, for the first time in his career, one tournament nine times. The match was the quickest final in the history of the Halle Open.

--IANS

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