Federer Takes Halle Title to Extend Grass-Court Run, Nadal Wins
Jun 16
Roger Federer beat home favorite Philipp Kohlschreiber in tennis’s Gerry Weber Open final today, extending his unbeaten streak on grass to 59 matches while Rafael Nadal claimed the Artois Championship in London.
Top-ranked Federer, who has now claimed the title five times in six years, defeated Kohlschreiber 6-3 6-4 in the Wimbledon warm-up event in Halle, Germany.`That was very special,” Federer told the BBC after taking his 55th career title. “I never lost my serve in this tournament, that had never happened to me.” The victory comes a week after the Swiss was outclassed by No. 2-ranked Nadal in the final of the French Open, the only clay-court Grand Slam tournament. Federer excels on grass, having won five straight Wimbledon titles. Federer, who pulled out of the Gerry Weber Open last year because of fatigue, has won 24 straight matches at the event.
Spain’s Nadal, runner-up to Federer at Wimbledon the past two years, prepared for this season’s event by taking his maiden grass-court title. He beat Serbia’s Novak Djokovic 7-6 (8-6), 7-5 at the Queen’s Club in London. Nadal rallied from 3-0 down in the first set to take it in a tie-break, then established a 2-0 lead in the second set. Djokovic broke back in the next game and after another break, served for the set at 5-4. Nadal responded by breaking back and taking the next two games to take the title.
Elsewhere, Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko won his third title of the year at the Warsaw Open. He beat Tommy Robredo of Spain 6-3, 6-3 in the final while Kateryna Bondarenko of the Ukraine claimed a maiden WTA title, defeating Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer 7-6 (9-7), 3-6, 7-6 (7-4) in the DFS Classic in Birmingham.
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