Halle (Germany), London: Roger Federer won the Halle Open for a record-extending eighth time on Sunday by beating Italy’s Andreas Seppi 7-6(1) 6-4 in a successful dress rehearsal on grass ahead of Wimbledon.
Defending champion Federer, who has now won Halle more times than any other tournament, captured a fourth title this year after victories at Istanbul, Dubai and Brisbane to take his career haul to 86.
The Swiss top seed saved two set points on his serve, trailing 5-4 in the first set and dug deep to level.
He then crushed the Italian, who won just one point, in the tiebreak to grab the first set after an hour.
Seppi, who reached his second final of the year after Gael Monfils and second seed Kei Nishikori retired in his two previous matches, earned another break opportunity at 2-2 but he sent a backhand into the net.
World number two Federer then squandered three breakpoints at 4-3, allowing Seppi to hold on and win the 10-minute game.
He did everything right, however, two games later to earn two match points and finished off the contest with a spectacular overhead smash.
Meanwhile in London, Andy Murray successfully completed the first part of his hectic Queen’s Club schedule as the world number three reached the final with a 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) victory over Serbia’s Viktor Troicki.
Heavy rain on Saturday had forced the suspension of Murray’s semi-final in the first set and left the Scot needing to do double duty on Sunday to win the Wimbledon warm-up event for a record-equalling fourth time.
It will be Murray’s 50th Tour-level final and his fifth of a season which has included titles in Madrid and Munich and runners-up finishes at the Australian Open and the Miami Masters.
Anderson will be well rested after blitzing his way into his first Queen’s final with 34 aces in a 6-3, 6-7 (6/8), 6-3 win over French seventh seed Gilles Simon on Saturday, taking his tally for the tournament to 96.
But Murray isn’t too concerned about his busy schedule as he has already won twice in a day this year, seeing off Lukas Rosol and Roberto Bautista Agut to clinch the Munich title last month.
“I’ll see my physio, get stretched out, get some food and shower. I enjoy playing big servers. My return has always been the strongest part of my game,” Murray said.
Murray has now won all seven of his meetings with Troicki, who was unable to exact revenge for some scathing criticism from the Scot over his refusal to take a drugs test in 2013.
Branded “unprofessional” by Murray and given an 18-month ban that was eventually reduced to a year, Troicki had managed to rebuild his career impressively, rising to 25th in the rankings and reaching the Stuttgart final last week.
