Federer clocks up another win

Federer won the Qatar Open convincingly Keystone

Swiss tennis star Roger Federer has breezed past Croatian Ivan Ljubicic to win the Qatar Open in Doha.

The Swiss has now won 14 straight finals and will bid to improve this record later in January at the Australian Open.

The 23-year-old world number one won 6-3, 6-1 on Saturday – the 23rd tournament victory of his career.

Federer played consistently well behind his strong serve and carved out good break opportunities throughout the match.

He easily outclassed his sixth-seeded opponent, who also lost last year’s final.

“I am extremely happy to start the new year in such fine fashion,” said Federer after his win.

“I am sure this win will give me great confidence going into the Australian Open.”

The tennis player, who comes from Basel, picked up $142,000 (SFr168,000) in prize money.

His win at the Qatar Open – the first tournament of the 2005 season – comes after a highly successful 2004 for the Swiss, in which he won the Masters, the US and Australian Opens and retained his Wimbledon title.

Federer was without a coach throughout 2004, after parting company with Peter Lundgren in December 2003.

But the Swiss has now engaged the services of Australian Tony Roche on a part-time basis as his new coach.

Roche previously coached Ivan Lendl and Pat Rafter to the world number one spot and several grand slam titles.

swissinfo with agencies

Key facts

Federer was born in Basel in August 1981.
He has been ranked world number one since February last year.
He won 11 titles last year, including three grand slams.
In 2004 he won $6,357,547 (SFr7,261,590) in prize money.