Germany’s Tommy Haas spoiled the bid of Roger Federer to win the Gerry Weber Open title for the sixth time on Sunday after the former world number two stunned the Swiss star with a 7-6, 7-5 win in an hour and a half of intense tennis action.
The 34-year old Haas was playing in his first title match since 2009 at the same venue when he also beat Serbian Novak Djokovic for the Halle title.
“I don’t have many words to say really, except that it is an amazing feeling to win another title in Germany,” Haas said.
“[Winning] my thirteenth title was a goal of mine to maybe achieve in the coming months, years or however long I am going to play. To have somebody across the net like Roger is a real honor for me. To have that picture with the winning trophy and Roger next to me is something really special, something I’ll obviously never forget. I’m just really happy and proud,” he added.
Meanwhile, Federer was aiming to perform well at this tune-up grasscourt event for the Wimbledon tournament which begins in a week’s time. He’s now 4-1 in finals this year. A week ago, he lost in the semifinals of the Roland Garros tournament to Djokovic. The skipped the Halle tournament last year after losing the Roland Garros final to Rafael Nadal.
“I should never have lost the first set. So, obviously that hurt,” Federer said.
“He was aggressive, he was maybe the more inspired player out there today. And that’s why he deserved to win,” he concluded
Haas went home with $150,000 plus 250 ranking points.
