Roger Federer completed a straight sets victory over David Goffin on
Sunday to lift the Halle Open title for the tenth time.
Federer didn’t take too long to wrap up a 7-6, 6-1 victory over
Goffin, ranked 33 in the world.
37-year-old Federer has struggled for rhythm throughout the
competition, dropping sets to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Roberto Bautista
Agut, but he clicked into gear when he started to dominate Goffin,
breaking three times in the second set.
It was an imperious performance in the second set that will send a
message to his rivals ahead of Wimbledon.
Eight-time champion Federer will start as one of the favourites along
with French Open champion Rafael Nadal, Australian Open champion Novak
Djokovic, and rising star Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Federer has won ten Halle titles in total; only two other players in
the history of the competition have won the event on multiple
occasions, Yevgeny Kafelnikov (3) and Tommy Haas (2).
The Swiss is now only the second man in the Open era to have ten
titles or more at an event joining Nadal, who has hit the mark at
Roland-Garros, Monte-Carlo and Barcelona.
Federer has now won eight of his past nine meetings with the Belgian.
