The Swiss tennis star Roger Federer got the better of old foe Rafa Nadal for the first time in more than three years to win a seventh Basel title with a three set victory.
Roger Federer of Switzerland. Photo: AFP
Top seed Federer, whose rivalry with Nadal is one of the most storied in tennis history, had not beaten the Spaniard since he won a semi-final at Indian Wells in 2012 and had lost their last five meetings.
Playing his 12th final in his home town, Federer survived a break point in his opening service game before grabbing the upper hand.
The Swiss broke twice to take the opening set and then went about putting pressure on third seed Nadal at the start of the second, crafting a break point at 3-2 ahead.
Nadal, however, dug deep to stay in the contest and then claimed his first break of the match for a 6-5 lead as Federer netted a backhand, leaving the Mallorcan to serve out to love.
The Swiss broke decisively to lead 5-3 in the third set and then served out to take the title, the 88th of his career, after two hours and three minutes of battle.
Radwanska wins WTA Finals
With the unique format at the WTA Finals, it is all about how you finish rather than how you start as new champion Agnieszka Radwanska proved perfectly in Singapore this week.
The Pole became the first winner of the end-of-season championships despite losing two out of three matches in the round-robin phase.
The 26-year-old used her supreme court coverage and shot making craft to dispatch double Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova 6-2 4-6 6-3 in the final at the Indoor Stadium to land the biggest title of her career.
It seemed an unlikely prospect after she lost a tight three-setter to Russia's Maria Sharapova and was then beaten by U.S. Open champion Flavia Pennetta in straight sets to kick off her Red Group campaign.
Having completed an exhaustive schedule just to qualify for Singapore, Radwanska, with a taped shoulder and thigh, needed to remind herself there was still hope.
"I lost first two matches but it's not like I was playing bad. It was still good matches. I just didn't use the chances."
- Reuters
