ATP Dubai: Roger Federer celebrates his 100th tournament victory!
Roger Federer celebrated the 100th tournament success of his career at the ATP 500 tournament in Dubai. In the final of the event, which is worth almost 2.9 million US dollars, he beat the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas 6: 4, 6: 4. ( Here the game in the match tracker! )
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Mar 02, 2019, 06:48 pm
This is called a successful revenge! We remember: Tsitsipas had suffered a sensitive defeat for the Swiss maestro at the Australian Open in the round of 16 in the last sixteen - however, Federer had not used all twelve break chances there either.
That alone made the 37-year-old directly better: Federer scored 15:40 in the first game of the match - and struck directly. He transported the break confidently, thanks to aggressive play, to 5: 4 and 40: 0. But suddenly it got tight again: Tsitsipas scored four points in a row and came up with two chances to break, but Federer remained nerve-racking and finally used his fourth set point.
In set two, everything went according to the server's plan - at a consistently high level. At 4: 4, however, Federer turned a 30:15 for Tsitsipas to break. He then served without losing points to win the match.
Tsitsipas raves: "Adore Roger since I was six years old"
"It was a wonderful week in difficult conditions," Federer alluded to the strong wind over the past few days. "Celebrating my 8th tournament win here, combined with the 100th overall, is fantastic."
Opponents of Tsitsipas also raved at the award ceremony in front of the Swiss champions. "I have admired him since I was six years old," said the 20-year-old. "For the first time I saw you play in Monte Carlo, now I share the place with you. I congratulate you on your 100th victory, what a trip."
Federer had always increased over the course of the Dubai week. He made three sets against Philipp Kohlschreiber and Fernando Verdasco, almost one set back against Marton Fucsovics , and then "had a really good feeling" in the semi-final against Borna Coric .
For Federer it is the eighth victory in Dubai, his second home. He takes home $ 565,635 and improves to fourth place in the new ranking.
Tsitsipas also has reason to be happy, even if his winning streak broke after eight won matches in a row (including the title in Marseille a week ago): From Monday he is among the top ten in the world for the first time - as the first Greek ever.
Roger Federer with 100 tournament wins behind Jimmy Connors
With now 100 tournament victories, Federer is still in second place in the all-time ranking. Here Jimmy Connors leads with 109 tournament successes. Behind Federer are Ivan Lendl (94), Rafael Nadal (80), John McEnroe (77) and Novak Djokovic (73).
"We live in a time when all records always have to be broken ... For me, that's nothing," replied Federer when asked if he wanted to tackle Connors' record. "I am just happy that I am still healthy. It is wonderful to reach a few milestones on the way. But I am not there to break all records."
Federer will compete next in Indian Wells, where the first Masters 1000 tournament of 2019 will begin on March 7th.
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Underlay struff in the double final
The double final had previously been won by Rajeev Ram / Joe Salisbury. The American-British duo beat the Japanese-German station wagon Ben MacLachlan / Jan-Lennard Struff 7: 6 (4), 6: 4