Final in Halle: Federer wrestles Seppi down

Although he went into his eighth ATP final as a complete outsider, Seppi showed no trace of nervousness right from the start. With a lot of calm and precisely played points, he stood up to Roger Federer throughout the entire first set.

Seppi appears cool and calm

The South Tyrolean showed hardly any weaknesses, especially when it came to his own serve - not even when the game had to be interrupted for almost 3 minutes due to the onset of rain when the score was 3:40 and 40:13 in order to close the stadium roof. Seppi delivered his service and made it 4:3. In the following game he had his first break point, but was unable to use it and had to accept another equalizer just moments later. The next chance to break, however, followed immediately afterwards when the Sartori protégé found two set points during Federer's serve game. However, the 33-year-old from Basel destroyed this with two aces and secured the game at 5:5. As a result, it was Seppi's turn again: with some spectacular points, he made it 6:5. But Federer was also up to the pressure again and so the tiebreak had to decide the first set. This ultimately fell in favor of Federer, who now noticeably tightened the reins and, after a double fault from Seppi, retained the upper hand 7:1.

The first break makes the decision

The second round continued in the same vein: both opponents delivered rousing, unusually long rallies for pitch conditions and remained almost flawless in their own service. Although Seppi missed a break point when the score was 2:2, he was able to avert the loss of serve three times a little later at 3:4. This feat was to be denied him shortly afterwards when Federer had two match points at 5:4. The 31-year-old Überetscher was able to fend off the first one, but he was powerless to fight off the second one. This exciting finale ended after exactly 109 minutes of play. Federer defended his title from last year and won the grass tournament in Westphalia for the eighth time. In the duel with the South Tyrolean he now has twelve wins and one defeat

172.100 euros in prize money and 300 ATP points Apart from the thunderous applause he received after the encounter, Seppi can console himself with prize money of 172.100 euros and a total of 300 world ranking points. He thus overtakes Fabio Fognini in the ATP rankings and becomes the best-placed Italian tennis player. He will climb to No. 27 on Monday, ensuring a spot in the seeded list at Wimbledon in two weeks.

Seppi will travel to England on Monday, where he has entered the grass tournament in Nottingham in the coming weeks. The Kalterer player enjoys a bye in the first round.

Seppi's eight finals on the ATP tour (3:5 wins): Gstaad 2007: -Paul Henri Mathieu (France/ATP number 28) 7:6, 4:6, 5:7 Eastbourne 2011: +Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia/30) 7:6(5), 3:6, 5:3 abandonment Belgrade 2012: +Benoit Paire (France/96) 6:3, 6:2 Eastbourne 2012: -Andy Roddick (USA/33) 3:6, 2:6 Metz 2012: -Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France/7) 1:6, 2:6 Moscow 2012: +Thomaz Bellucci (Brazil/41) 3:6, 7:6(3), 6:3 Zagreb 2015: -Guillermo Garcia Lopez (Spain/33) 6:7(4), 3:6 Hall 2015: -Roger Federer (Switzerland/2) 6:7(1), 4:6

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Final in Halle: Federer wrestles Seppi down

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