Stockholm win sees Roger Federer land 64th title

Federer didn't have it all his own way in claiming his third title of the year at the Royal Tennis Hall against the 47th-ranked Mayer. The unorthodox German broke Federer in the seventh game, before Federer started spraying some trademark winners to come back and take the set.

Federer showed glimpses of his best form in the second set, mixing power and finesse to outclass Mayer and win the match in 63 minutes.

Federer broke with the score at 3-2 in the second with a drop shot and played a sliced backhand that Mayer could only watch as he took the score to 5-2.

Since 1968, only Jimmy Connors (109), Ivan Lendl (94) and John McEnroe (77) have won more singles tournaments than Federer and Sampras.

"Early on, I think that feeling of wanting to prove yourself to the world and all the doubters is a very strong one, so you're very aggressive in your ways of winning and not enjoying them," Federer said. "Today it's much more of the enjoyment part because I don't need to prove myself to anyone any more, except to myself."

Federer, the 16-time Grand Slam winner, continues to reach new milestones with every season. On Friday he won his 50th match of the year, becoming only the fifth man, and the first since Sampras, to win 50 matches in at least nine straight years in the Open era.

Federer received a standing ovation from the 5,200 crowd as Sweden's Crown Princess Victoria presented him with the trophy, in what was his first appearance at the tournament for a decade.

"For me, every tournament victory is special, this is one I'll definitely remember, maybe more than other ones," Federer said of his first tournament win in Sweden - the 18th country in which he has lifted titles. "It feels great winning any tournament, but especially in a country where I've never been successful before," Federer said."Mayer played a really good match in the final and I had to really come up with some good tennis."

The unseeded Mayer, who is still to win an ATP title, was appearing in his third career final and first in four years. He knocked out second-seeded Robin Soderling in the quarter-finals and his gave Federer some difficulty throughout the match. But Federer has now beaten Mayer in all three of their encounters without losing a set. Indeed, Federer has only lost five matches against players ranked above 40 in the past five years.

"It was over really after the first set," Mayer said."I got tired while his game improved a lot, but I felt it was a closer match than the score showed."

lVictor Troicki of Serbia claimed his maiden title, and Victoria Azarenka of Belarus won her fifth women's crown with victories in the Kremlin Cup finals yesterday.

The 43rd-ranked Troicki rallied to beat fourth-seeded Marcos Baghdatis 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, while Azarenka beat her Russian doubles partner Maria Kirilenko 6-3, 6-4.

The 19th-ranked Baghdatis, who was making his debut at the event, took a 1-0 lead in his third appearance in a final this season with a break in the sixth game. Both players held in the second set before the 43rd-ranked Troicki leveled the match at 1-1 with a break in the 10th game and went 4-1 up in the third set. Baghdatis saved a match point in the eighth game, but Troicki, serving for the match at 5-2, clinched the win with a forehand volley.

"Marcos (Baghdatis) was playing very good in the first set," said Troicki. "But then I started playing better and better. It feels unbelievable."

Baghdatis said that two bad calls from a linesman in the end of the second set had "a big impact" on the result of the match. A TV replay showed that Troicki's shot in the 10th game was out.

"It's very, very frustrating," said Baghdatis. "I don't mind losing but we are professionals and we need professionals to be on the lines. Everyone can make a mistake but it wasn't a mistake. The guy was sleeping."