Federer reclaims No 1 after making short work of Raonic

STUTTGART, Germany－Roger Federer claimed his 98th ATP title on Sunday and displayed his unrivaled superiority on grass with a 6-4, 7-6(3) victory over Milos Raonic in the Stuttgart Cup final.

The top-seeded Swiss beat his Canadian opponent for the 11th time in 14 meetings in winning his first Stuttgart title.

Federer, who will be chasing a ninth Wimbledon triumph next month, finally dominated the German grass on his third try after losing a semifinal in 2016 to Dominic Thiem and falling in the first round a year ago to good friend Tommy Haas.

"I'm just very happy how I played this week," the 20-time Grand Slam champion said.

"I never felt bad on the court, to be honest. That's a very encouraging feeling.

"I was there in the most important moments, breaking Milos (in the first set) was a good effort. It's been a great week for me."

The 36-year-old regained the world No 1 ranking on Monday and is playing next week as top seed in Halle as he continues his comeback after skipping the claycourt season.

"It's a great comeback for me," Federer said after completing his 78-minute win.

"I'm so happy to win this tournament in my third attempt. We'll see if being No 1 again will probably give me a boost."

Raonic, who has been hampered by injuries over the past two seasons, was a gracious loser, tweeting: "It was a good week for me with a lot of positives. I'm happy to be back and healthy. Today didn't go the way I wanted, but I'm looking forward to building on this result. Congratulations@rogerfederer and thank you, Stuttgart."

Federer secured a return to the top ATP ranking for a sixth time with his semifinal victory on Saturday over Australian Nick Kyrgios.

He takes the honor back from Rafael Nadal for the second time this season.

Federer kept tight control on the match as he claimed his third title of the season after the Australian Open and Rotterdam and now owns 18 grass trophies－including eight from Wimbledon.

"I think I played very well for not having played for a while," Federer added. "Maybe I was a bit better on the big points."

The Swiss maestro broke twice in the first set to take it after 32 minutes when Raonic returned long over the baseline.

The second set stayed on serve into a tiebreaker.

A double fault by the 6-foot-5 Canadian followed by a return winner from the Swiss set up three match points, with Federer needing only his first as Raonic netted a return.

Federer improved to 21-2 for the season after playing in the 24th grass final of his career.

Next week, he will open his Halle bid in the first round against Slovakian world No 72 Aljaz Bedene.

Federer was scheduled to fly to Halle on Monday to prepare for a Tuesday start.

"The key for me is to be ready for that opening match. I'm defending a title there－like I am at Wimbledon. I need to get through the first round."

As he takes things one step at a time, Federer is not yet ready to start concentrating on the job ahead at the All England Club.

"That's the plan for now, for Wimbledon I still have time. I have a quiet pre-tournament week, not many things going on, which is fine.

"I just hope to stay injury-free and healthy."

Out to try to stop him at Halle will be world No 3 and second seed Alexander Zverev, who had cast doubt on his fitness after losing in the Roland Garros quarterfinals to eventual finalist Thiem.

Zverev will start his grass season by facing Croatian Borna Coric.

Third seed Thiem, who lost to Nadal a week ago in the French Open final, opens against a qualifier.

AFP