Top seed Roger Federer beat his old rival Rafael Nadal in three sets to claim his seventh Swiss Indoors title.
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Federer loves this indoor tournament; this was a record 12th final appearance, and he has waited 21 months to measure himself against Nadal again. The tennis greats both had straight-sets wins Saturday to set up a Swiss Indoors title match that is their first on-court meeting since January 2014, and first final since May 2013.
Nadal earned a break point in the next game and converted to shock the Swiss with a 6-5 lead.
“I lost first two matches but it’s not like I was playing bad”. It then wouldn’t take long for Federer to wrap up the opener 6-3.
The top seed earned a break for 3-2 and concluded the opener with a second break to take the lead after 37 minutes. After fending off a break point in the second game, he unleashed the SABR shot for the first time.
Federer clinched victory on his next service game.
But Nadal’s resistance finally wilted when he put too much on a backhand, giving Federer a 5-3 advantage and the chance to serve for the match.
Portugal’s Joao Sousa beat Roberto Bautista Agut from a set and a break down 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Sunday to win the Valencia Open, his second career title after 2013 Kuala Lumpur.
Federer cautioned against underestimating Nadal, who has endured several injuries since their rivalry peaked in the last decade. However, after securing six of the next seven points, the scores would be poised at 2-2 in the first set.
Although making a few attempts, the sneak-attack-by-Roger (SABR), proved unsuccessful aside from possibly causing a mental hindrance in Nadal’s game. In his post-match speech, the Spaniard thanked the fans and praised them for how supportive they were.
“I was a little bit scared”.
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Federer and Nadal finished up the evening by handing out medals to the ball boys before heading to the locker room. It is also the fourth time that Federer won a seventh trophy in a single tournament.
