Roger Federer dumps Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to claim sixth season finale – ATP World Tour Finals 2011
As it was already anticipated, the Swiss maestro, Roger Federer, becomes the first player in the history of the Open Era to claim six championship titles at the Barclays ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour Finals.
The fourth seed outplayed the world number six, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, in the final showdown of the year at the O2 Arena in London on Sunday night to lift the prestigious season ending trophy for the record sixth time.
The mighty Swiss battled out for two hours and nineteen minutes of play to take down the Frenchman in three sets, 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-3, to finish the 2011 ATP season on an authoritative note. It was the 100th ATP final and
the 70th championship title for Federer in his 13-year professional career. The 30-year-old Swiss was extremely delighted on his Sunday night’s victory over Tsonga and hopes to carry on his winning impetus in the next season as well.
“It feels very special, indeed,” admitted Federer, “I've been trying to sort of block it out for the entire tournament, the entire time I've been here in London. I just tried to recuperate from Basel and Paris and hopefully get
through the round robin stages. So now it's finally sort of reality that I've been able to win six [Barclays ATP] World Tour Finals. It's an amazing feeling. I know it's one of my greatest accomplishments.”
It was an evenly poised contest, with both men labouring hard to reach glory. The Swiss veteran was off to a flying start in the opening set but the sixth seeded Frenchman gradually made his way back in the game after clinching
the second set tie breaker. It was sheer brilliance of Federer in the final set which drove Tsonga out of the competition in an assertive fashion, letting the Swiss victorious in the end.
It was the eighth time in the current season that these two top class athletes have gone one-on-one against each other in singles encounters. Apart from two successive wins for Tsonga at Wimbledon and the Montreal Masters, the
Swiss maestro has been victorious in six battles against the Frenchman, including the championship win at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris.
Federer’s victory on Sunday propelled him to the world number three spot in the latest South African Airways 2011 ATP Rankings released on Monday, pushing the Briton, Andy Murray, down to number four in the men’s ratings.
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