Roger Federer yesterday lost for only the second time on grass since 2003 as he was stunned by Lleyton Hewitt in the final of the Gerry Weber Open in Halle. Federer had won the German tournament five times previously and had been victorious in his last 29 matches there, but the No 1 seed was beaten 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 by the former world No 1. The six-time Wimbledon champion, who had beaten Hewitt in their previous 15 encounters, had looked on course to keep his dominance at Halle going as he won the first set. But Hewitt bounced back to win the second set on a tie-break, before clinching the decider to upset the world No 2's preparations for Wimbledon, which starts a week from today.
Hewitt said in his post-match press conference: "Roger is a hell of an opponent and everybody knows how good he is on grass. His record speaks for itself and I just got lucky. "It's fantastic for me, I'm getting towards the end of my career and had couple of surgeries, to know I can still compete at this level. I'm thrilled to be here and to have won another title." An impressed Federer praised Hewitt, saying: "He played great from the beginning and the first set could have gone either way."
Federer's only other loss in the past seven years in a match on grass came in the 2008 Wimbledon final at the hands of Rafael Nadal, the world No 1. Meanwhile, Sam Querrey won the Aegon Championships at Queen's Club in London as he saw off Mardy Fish, his American compatriot, 7-6 (7-3), 7-5 in the final. The world No 23 won a tie-break to take a tight first set, which had no breaks of serve, before breaking Fish twice in the second set to take the title.
In women's action, China's Li Na proved too strong for Maria Sharapova, the former world No 1, for the second year in succession at the WTA Birmingham title when she claimed a 7-5, 6-1 victory. Na had beaten Sharapova in the semi-finals 12 months earlier. * Compiled by Graham Caygill, with agencies
