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Roger Federer crushes Goffin for sixth Basel title

The Swiss world number two comfortably dominated his baby-faced Belgian opponent

Basel: Roger Federer outclassed David Goffin in the Swiss Indoors final on Sunday, winning 6-2, 6-2 to claim a third title from his last four events and sixth in his home event.

Federer spent just 51 minutes in delighting his hometown crowd, setting up two match points with a fifth ace and effortlessly piloting over a winning drop shot on his first opportunity to claim the 82nd title of his career.

The Swiss world number two comfortably dominated his baby-faced Belgian opponent just as he had done in their first meeting at the French Open in 2012.

"I'm very pleased with how well I'm playing," said the 17-time Grand Slam champion, who will carry on next week to the Paris Masters, followed by the season finals in London and a Davis Cup final for Switzerland on indoor clay in France.

"I'm playing well when I expect myself to. I played really well today.

"I was fresh after my fifth straight day of tennis. I'm happy I've been able to keep it up time and time again, week after week. I didn't expect this kind of a result but clearly I'll take it."

Federer, 33, also boosted his chances of regaining the world number one ranking from Novak Djokovic by the season's end.

In the last two months, Federer has won the Cincinnati and Shanghai Masters events and reached the US Open semi-finals.

His Basel title was his sixth from 11 Swiss finals played over a span of 15 years.

He now stands 56-9 in Basel and 66-10 this season with five titles.

Basel becomes one of six events that he has won at least six times, with others comprising Halle (7), Wimbledon (7), World Tour Finals (6), Dubai (6) and Cincinnati (6).

Federer has played 123 ATP finals, with Basel his tenth this season.

Goffin said he was simply outplayed and had to deal with big-match nerves to boot.

"It was a nightmare for me," said the world number 28. "It was tough to play Roger at home and I didn't play my best match of the week.

"He's in great shape and playing so well. I didn't serve my best but it was still a good week for me.

"His serve is so good, you just cannot read it. I had a lot of nerves in my first ATP 500 final and playing Roger here."

( Source : AFP )
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