Roger Federer Reclaims Basel Title

(November 7, 2010) Roger Federer used to pick up balls in Basel. These days, he's busy collecting titles at his hometown tournament. The top-seeded Swiss captured the Swiss Indoors title for the fourth time in five years, dethroning defending champion Novak Djokovic, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 in the final.

It was Federer's 65th career ATP title, which moves him ahead of Pete Sampras for fourth on the all-time list. The former Basel ball boy trails Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl and John McEnroe in overall career titles.

It was Federer's second straight title and his fourth title of the season. Contesting his eighth final of the season, Federer avenged his three-set loss to Djokovic in the 2009 final. The 16-time Grand Slam champion has won 24 of his last 25 Basel matches in becoming the first four-time winner in tournament history (Stefan Edberg won Basel three times).

Federer, who was broken just twice in 49 service games on the week, raised his career record against Djokovic to 12-6. "I've played really well all week long," said Federer.

The second-seeded Serbian said a slow start in the third set ultimately cost him.

"I lost my balance a bit and in a split second I was 5-1 down and there was no way back," Djokovic said. "You don't get many chances against Roger, if you lose your focus he's right on top of you."