Federer matches Sampras' title count in Stockholm

STOCKHOLM (AP)?Roger Federer beat Germany?s Florian Mayer 6-4, 6-3 to win the Stockholm Open on Sunday, and match Pete Sampras? total of 64 career titles.

?It?s amazing that I?m there where Pete?s ended his career on,? Federer said. ?You never know when it?s your last one, that?s why you want to savor every tournament victory.?

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 anymore, 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.

It?s his first tournament win in Sweden and 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 quarterfinals and his unorthodox style also gave Federer 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.?

Federer had to come from a set behind to beat fellow-Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka in the quarterfinals and was broken in the third game of Saturday?s seminfinal against fourth-seeded Ivan Ljubicic, before coming back to win the match.

Source: http://feeds.tennis.com/~r/tenniscom-news/~3/uJO3Z5MVmf8/

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