Federer wins first Paris Masters

Roger Federer’s tough season is ending on a high and the Swiss star beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-1, 7-6 (7-3) yesterday to win his first Paris Masters and 69th title of a glittering career.

The 16-time Grand Slam champion had never previously reached the Paris final, but restricted the sixth-seeded Frenchman to limited opportunities after saving two break points in his opening service game.

“I’m just ecstatic to have played so well this week,” Federer said. “I have had many attempts to win Paris and for some reason I wasn’t able to. It’s a special victory.” The former No 1 will end the season without a Grand Slam title for the first time since 2002, and his ranking has dropped to No. 4. But Federer has bounced back with a venom, winning the Swiss Indoors last week and Paris. “I have had some really tough losses this year, but I kept believing the year wasn’t over,” said Federer. I’m not playing to prove anything to anybody. I play for myself, I play for Switzerland [and] just to enjoy myself.”

Federer took six weeks off after the Davis Cup play-off against Australia in mid-September and feels it paid off. His 18th Masters title puts him one ahead of Andre Agassi and one behind all-time leader Rafael Nadal. The 30-year-old Federer heads into the eight-man ATP World Tour Finals in London next week on a 12-match winning streak.

“I can still finish this year on a high,” he said. “Now I have a massive highlight coming up in a week’s time.”

It was his third title of the season and his only Masters. Djokovic has won five Masters this year, third-ranked Andy Murray has won two and Nadal has one. But with Djokovic troubled by a nagging shoulder injury, Federer will be confident of defending his title in London.

Tsonga improved his serve in the second set, but Federer was simply too strong in the tie-breaker, taking victory on his third match point when Tsonga’s return landed out.

“I felt good today but Roger was just better than me today,” Tsonga said. “I knew I needed to play a great match if wanted to win today and I was not able to.”

Tsonga won the tournament in 2008 but was let down by too many unforced errors on his forehand as he tried to find a way to pressure Federer in their sixth meeting this year.

Coming into the match, Federer was bothered by a cold and felt sleepy after being woken up halfway through the night by his daughter.

“I was hoping that the night would go well but suddenly I was running in the room with [his wife] Mirka to see if everything was OK,” Federer said. “[Mirka] said, let’s take her in our bed. I didn’t even question this. I can’t have an argument at four in the morning.”