Halle (Germany): Swiss great Roger Federer thrashed Alexander Zverev to win his ninth title at the Wimbledon warm-up tournament in Halle on Sunday.
The top seed lost his first match of the grass-court season last week in Stuttgart to Tommy Haas, but was in imperious form all week at Halle, culminating in the 6-1, 6-3 final victory over the home favourite Zverev.
Federer will head into Wimbledon, which starts on July 3, as favourite to win an outright record eighth title.
Italian Open champion Zverev had won all three of his previous finals this season, but was blown away by a vintage performance from the 18-time major champion in only 53 minutes.
“I played great, I felt good from the start,” said Federer. “It was by far my best match of the week. After my long break, I’m feeling excellent and it’s a pleasure to be back and I’m fit for Wimbledon.”
The 35-year-old, who skipped the entire clay-court season, has still only lost two matches this year en route to four titles, including the Australian Open in January.
“My goal was to keep myself 100 percent for the grass season, I now hope that I’ll stay healthy in this second part of the season and we’ll see what happens.” Federer added further.
Kvitova notches comeback win Petra Kvitova clinched her first title in just her second tournament since returning from a career-threatening hand injury, defeating Australia’s Ashleigh Barty 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in Sunday’s Birmingham final.
Two-time Wimbledon champion Kvitova was sidelined for five months as she recovered from severe injuries to her left playing hand suffered while fighting off a knife-wielding burglar at her home in the Czech Republic in December last year.
