BY ZORAN HORVAT
A day after securing the world No. 1 ranking, Roger Federer earned his maiden Stuttgart victory with a 6-4, 7-6 win over Milos Raonic.
Federer was focused from the beginning. He broke Raonic in the third game with two passing returns from 30-30, a rare break against the Canadian this week. Raonic had his chance to level the score in the next game, but Federer played a forehand down the line and a service winner to fend off the break points. The 20-time Grand Slam champion took the set 6-4.
Both players were excellent on serve in the second set and did not allow even any near-break opportunities, making a tiebreak the only logical result. Federer opened with a mini-break but Raonic answered with a great backhand return down the line. The two kept their service until Federer took a pair of points from Raonic with two great passing shots, giving Federer three championship points.
He converted his first after a forced error by Raonic, setting off the celebration after his 98th ATP tournament win.
“I think I played very well, throughout the tournament. I haven’t played for a while so it’s a great comeback for me and I think for Milos as well,” Federer said. “Maybe I was a little bit better on the bigger points. I’m very happy having won the title here. The last few years I lost some tight matches here. I hope this will me more confidence for the upcoming weeks.”
The Swiss superstar said he felt fit throughout the week, praising his ability to hold his serve and win crucial tiebreaks, like a third set decider against Nick Kyrgios on Saturday and the clincher against Raonic.
With the win, Federer moves to within 11 titles of Jimmy Connors’ record 109.
“If I can achieve that it would be great, but I never thought before I will win 98,” Federer said. “I think 100 would also be a nice number.”
In the immediate term, Federer will head to Halle next week before Wimbledon two weeks later. With a win to kick off his summer, he expressed optimism about how his season will progress.
“My season starts from now so I hope I can play a full schedule. I just play what I can. The more I play the more healthy I am, the more that is possible. But it’s just nice to get back to it at any stage, get another week in.”
