Juan Martin del Potro beats Roger Federer to defend Basel title

Argentina’s Juan Martin Del Potro kisses his trophy after winning the Swiss Indoors ATP tennis tournament final match against Switzerland’s Roger Federer in Basel

Juan Martin del Potro beat Roger Federer in three sets to win the Basel indoors for the second consecutive time.

The loss for Federer means that his spot at  the ATP World Finals has not been cemented yet.

The repeat final of last year had a similar trajectory to the previous season as del Potro got the better of Federer yet again. The match, which lasted two hours and twenty minutes, was a close affair till Federer was broken in the opening game of the decisive set.

The Argentine won the first set in a tight tie break after he failed to close out the set while serving at 5-4. In the second set, Federer, who has won the Basel indoors a record five times, upped the tempo to notch the first three games of the second set before he wrapped up the set 6-2. But, the man from Tandel was too powerful for Federer as his booming forehands took centrestage, which ultimately nullified Federer’s potency in the latter half of the third set.

Federer had a chance of qualifying for the ATP World Finals if he’d won the final today. But, he still has a chance to do that if he could get the better of Kevin Anderson in the second round of Paris Masters, which starts next week. The Swiss has received a bye in the first round of that tournament.