Federer notches sixth ATP Finals title

LONDON (AP):

Roger Federer held off a resilient Jo-Wilfried Tsonga yesterday for his record sixth ATP World Tour Finals title, winning 6-3, 7-6 (6), 6-3 at the season-ending tournament.

Federer failed to serve out the match at 5-4 in the second set, then wasted a match point in the tie-breaker as Tsonga threatened to stage another improbable comeback against the former No. 1.

Tsonga became the first player to rally from a two-set deficit to beat Federer in a Grand Slam tournament in this year's Wimbledon quarter-finals, but the hard-serving Frenchman couldn't pull off another surprise this time.

Playing in his 100th career final, Federer broke for a 5-3 lead in the decider and served out the match at love, sealing his 70th career title with an easy volley.

With the victory, Federer moved past Ivan Lendl and Pete Sampras, who both won five titles at the season-ending event for the world's top eight players, previously known as the Masters Cup.

17-match winning streak

The Swiss star has not lost a match since the United States Open semi-finals. He finished the year with a 17-match winning streak following titles in Basel and Paris before coming to London.

"I couldn't be more happy. I couldn't be more exhausted," Federer told the crowd at the O2 Arena, after being presented with the trophy for the second year in a row. "Jo sucked every last bit of energy out of me today."

The capacity crowd included Pippa Middleton, Cristiano Ronaldo and London Mayor Boris Johnson - who was initially cheered when showed on the big screen, but received boos when he and his party were late to return to their seats after a changeover, holding up play as Tsonga was about to serve at 2-1 in the third set.

It was the third Sunday in a row that featured a meeting between these two players; Federer beat Tsonga in the Paris final two weeks ago and again in their first round-robin match in London last weekend.