Federer Wins Rogers Cup
Posted August 13, 2006 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Roger Federer would not be intimidated.
The world’s number one tennis player wasn’t the least bit bothered by a slow start against upstart Richard Gasquet in Sunday’s Rogers Cup final, as the Swiss star battled back from a first set loss to win the tournament for the second time in the last three years.
Fifty spots below Federer in the world rankings and unseeded in the tournament, Gasquet hoped to continue a surprise stretch that saw him beat several highly-ranked players en route to the $2.45 million final.
But it was not to be.
Federer simply proved to be too much for the 20-year-old Frenchman, winning 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 in just one hour and 47 minutes in front of a nice crowd of 10,000 fans on a beautiful afternoon at the Rexall Centre.
Federer also won the event the last time it was held in Toronto in 2004. Playing perhaps the most dominant tennis of his career, he’s lost only four matches this year and won 54 straight in North America.
It was the 40th tournament win of Federer’s career, and a nice comeback considering he lost to Gasquet last year in Monte Carlo, though he’s won five straight against the Frenchman since.
Not that it was all bad for Gasquet. The surprise run will undoubtedly propel him from his 51st world ranking into the mid-20s when the new list is released Monday. And losing to Federer isn’t the end of the world – after all almost nobody can beat the guy.
In the doubles final, American twins Bob and Mike Bryan topped Australia’s Paul Hanley and Zimbabwe’s Kevin Ullyett 6-3, 7-5.
