London : Swiss legend Roger Federer clinched the 70th title in his career after outplaying Frenchman Jo- Wilfried Tsonga 6-3, 6-7(6) and 6-3 at the ATP World Tour Finals here Sunday.
It’s the 100th final that Federer played and the 16-time Grand Slam champion became the first player to win the year-end championship title for the sixth time, Xinhua reported.
Federer, 30, also became the oldest player to win the season finale. The victory also marked Roger Federer winning a record sixth ATP World Tour Finals title.
Federer came to London’s O2 Arena determined to end a frustrating year on a high and he fulfilled that ambition by moving ahead of Pete Sampras and Ivan Lendl on the list of Tour Finals champions in the 100th final of his majestic career.
With his 70 trophies in career, the Swiss great has also equalled Lendl’s record of 39 match wins in the end-of-season event.
While rivals Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray have all faded in the final weeks of a gruelling season, Federer is still going strong and this triumph, which followed back to back titles in Basel and Paris, will be a major boost to his confidence heading into 2012.
Although Federer, who takes home the winners’ cheque worth $770,000, ends the season without a Grand Slam title for the first time since 2002, talk of his demise seems greatly exaggerated.
The 16-time Grand Slam winner has reeled off a 17-match winning streak since the US Open and he will rise back above Murray to third in the world rankings as a result.
Tsonga had hoped to become the first Frenchman to win this event in its 41-year history. But the 26-year-old was unable to emulate his famous Wimbledon quarterfinal win in June when he became the first player to beat the Swiss star from two sets down in a Grand Slam.
Tsonga has served more aces than anyone on the ATP Tour this season and bashed down his 815th of the year to open his first service game in front an 18,000 crowd, including the Duchess of Cambridge and Cristiano Ronaldo.
IANS
