BASEL, SWITZERLAND, HOME COOKING: ROGER FEDERER TRIUMPHS AGAIN IN BASEL, THIS TIME BY BEATING RAFA NADAL BY RICKY DIMON

Written by: Staff on 1st November 2015

BASEL, SWITZERLAND, HOME COOKING: ROGER FEDERER TRIUMPHS AGAIN IN BASEL, THIS TIME BY BEATING RAFA NADAL BY RICKY DIMON

epa05006467 Switzerland's Roger Federer celebrates after winning against Spain's Rafael Nadal at the Swiss Indoors tennis tournament at the St. Jakobshalle in Basel, Switzerland, 01 November 2015. EPA/DOMINIC STEINMANN |

Roger Federer lifting the Swiss Indoors Basel trophy is one of the longest-standing traditions in tennis. Never, however, had he done it at the expense of Rafael Nadal. Until now.

For the first time in the illustrious 34-match history of the rivalry, Federer and Nadal faced each other in Federer’s Swiss stomping grounds. It wasn’t easy, but Federer benefited from home-court advantage and held off Nadal 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 after two hours and two minutes in Sunday’s final.

It was Federer’s seventh Basel triumph and he now owns a 61-9 record at the tournament.

With a 10-23 lifetime mark against his nemesis, Federer needed a win in the worst way. He came out playing like it, breaking in the fifth game and at love in the ninth game to seize set one in style. The 34-year-old consolidated his initial break with an incredible forehand pass on a break point at 3-2.

Nadal finally earned a break of his own at 5-5 in the second. It proved to be enough for the third-seeded Spaniard to force a decider, as he promptly delivered a love hold one game later.

Much to the delight of the pro-Federer crowd, the 17-time Grand Slam champion regained control in set three. Despite missing a break chance at 2-1, he struck decisively at 4-3. Nadal set a backhand well long on break point before Federer survived a deuce game at 5-3 to clinch victory.

“My fourth time here, finally I get to the finals–so I’m very happy for that,” Nadal said during the trophy ceremony. “Very emotional week; all the matches…a lot of fight. I believe that it’s been a very important week for me, for this year and for the future.”

Spain’s Rafael Nadal reacts with the trophy plate after losing the final match against Switzerland’s Roger Federer, at the Swiss Indoors tennis tournament at the St. Jakobshalle in Basel, Switzerland, 01 November 2015. EPA/DOMINIC STEINMANN

As usual, pleasantries were exchange by both former world No. 1 players in the world. Federer even told Nadal that just by making it this far in Basel for the fist time, “it’s like you won the final.”

Both men will now head to the Paris Masters for the last tournament of the proverbial regular season (before the eight-man World Tour Finals). Federer awaits either Thomaz Bellucci or Teymuraz Gabashvili, while Nadal could open against Lukas Rosol.

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand.

Topics: Basel tennis final, Nadal vs Federer, Rafa Nadal, Ricky Dimon, Roger Federer, Sports, Swiss Indoors, Swiss Open, Tennis News, Tennis Rivalry

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10sBalls_com says:

November 1, 2015 at 12:27 pm

#BaselSwissIndoors, Home Cooking: #Federer Triumphs Again In #Basel, This Time By Beating #Nadal by @Dimonator- https://t.co/P2GG7SjyLW
Dimonator says:

November 1, 2015 at 12:47 pm

RT @10sBalls_com: #BaselSwissIndoors, Home Cooking: #Federer Triumphs Again In #Basel, This Time By Beating #Nadal by @Dimonator- https://t…