Federer cruises past Goffin to Swiss Indoors title

Murray fends off Robredo in Valencia Open final to close in on London

Roger Federer returns the ball to David Goffin during the Swiss Indoors final in Basel, Switzerland, on October 26, 2014. Arnd Wiegmann / Reuters

Roger Federer outclassed David Goffin in the Swiss Indoors final on Sunday, winning 6-2, 6-2 to claim a third ATP title from his past four events.

Federer spent 51 minutes in pleasing his hometown crowd, setting up two match points with a fifth ace and effortlessly piloting over a winning drop shot on his first opportunity to win the 82nd title of his career.

The Swiss world No 2 rendered his game untouchable to once again overawe his baby-faced Belgian opponent, as he had done in their first meeting at Roland Garros in 2012.

“I’m very happy with this week and with my season,” said the 17-time grand slam title champion, who goes next week to the Paris Masters, followed by the ATP Tour Finals in London and a Davis Cup final for Switzerland on indoor clay in France.

“I’ve had a lot of highlights this year and I’m hoping for one or two more.”

Federer also moved a step closer to clinching the year-end No 1 spot for a record-equalling sixth time as he moved to less than 500 points behind Novak Djokovic with his fifth victory of the season.

In the past two months, Federer has won the Cincinnati and Shanghai Masters events and reached the US Open semi-finals.

“I’m very pleased how well I’m playing,” he said. “It was a great final, I think I played really well. I’m full of confidence now.”

His Basel title was his sixth here from 11 finals played over a span of 15 years. Federer, 33, is 56-9 in Basel and 66-10 this season with five titles.

Basel becomes one of six events that he has won at least six times, with the others being Halle (seven), Wimbledon (seven), the World Tour Finals (six), Dubai (six) and Cincinnati (six).

Federer has played 123 ATP finals, with Basel his 10th this season.

In the final of the Valencia Open, Britain’s Andy Murray fought off five match points before winning 3-6, 7-6, 7-6 against Tommy Robredo of Spain.

The gruelling battle at the Agora arena, in which both players battled exhaustion, was a repeat of last month's Shenzhen Open final, when Murray fought off five match points against the Spaniard on the way to a 5-7, 7-6, 6-1 success.

A wild card at the indoor hard-court event, No 3 seed Murray produced an erratic display against Robredo but had just enough in the tank to claim a 31st career singles title. His victory lifted him to fifth place in the race to secure a berth at the ATP Tour Finals.

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