Roger Federer has claimed a record sixth ATP World Tour Finals title with a 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 victory over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the decisive match of a season-ending tournament in London.
Federer was serving for the match at 5-4 in the second set, but let his opponent make a return break, then wasted a match point in the tiebreaker.
However, the hard-serving Frenchman proved unable to pull off another surprise comeback like the one he produced against Federer in this year`s Wimbledon quarterfinals.
Playing in his 100th career final, Federer stadied up to take the decider. He broke for a 5-3 lead and a few games later sealed his 70th career title with an easy volley.
"I`ve had a tough year, in some ways. I`ve had some tough losses, so to come through again against Jo and the way it all happened - I had match point in the second (set) - and had to go three sets, it`s actually better that it happened this way," Federer said afterwards.
"I couldn`t be more happy. I played great through the fall and now I`m looking forward to next year, of course. It was an amazing week and an amazing season to finish," he added.
"Re-writing history, I guess, is a very proud moment in anybody`s active sporting career and I`m still able to actually re-write more, potentially, which is a great feeling," said the Swiss player, who won a record sixth title at the season-ending tournaments, becoming the oldest player to win the showpiece event since Ilie Nastase was victorious back in 1975.
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