Stuttgart: Roger Federer claimed his 98th ATP title here Sunday and re-established his unrivalled superiority on grass with a 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) victory over Milos Raonic in the Stuttgart Cup tennis tournament final.
The top-seeded Swiss beat his Canadian opponent for the 11th time in 14 meetings while winning a first Stuttgart title.
“It’s a great comeback for me,” Federer, who won the title here on his third attempt, said after completing his 78-minute win. “I’m so happy to win this tournament in my third attempt. Being No.1 again will probably give me a boost for the upcoming tournaments,” he added.
Federer kept tight control on the match as he claimed his third title of the season after the Australian Open and Rotterdam and now owns 28 grass trophies including eight from Wimbledon.
“I think I played very well not having played for a while,” Federer said as he competed this week for the first time since mid-March after skipping the clay season. “Maybe I was a bit better on the big points.”
The Swiss broke twice in the first set to win it after 32 minutes when his opponent returned long over the baseline. The second set stayed on serve till the tie-breaker.
A double fault from the Canadian followed by a return winner from the Swiss set up three match points, with Federer needing only his first as Raonic netted a return.