Slim chances for Federer

Federer found the going extremely tough on Sunday Keystone

Having lost to British world number 11 Tim Henman in the final at the Swiss Indoors tennis tournament in Basel, Roger Federer's chances to qualify for the Tennis Masters Cup in Sydney are waning.

After 67 tournaments since January 1, the Swiss number one player’s chances to qualify for the tournament in Sydney have become incredibly slim.

In order to secure himself a place in the last tournament of the season, the number 12 in the ATP Tour Champions’ Race would have to win the Paris tournament.

The other contestants for the six remaining places in Sydney are Tim Henman, Germany’s Tommy Haas, Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean and the two Russian players Marat Safin and Yevgeny Kafelnikov.

The only two players already qualified for Sydney are world’s number one Gustavo Kuerten from Brazil and Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt.

There is a slight chance that Federer could meet Henman in a repeat of the Basel final in the third round of the Paris tournament.

The Basel match

Having lost last year’s final in a five-set thriller, Federer (ATP 13) never came close to making a similar impact this time around. Although not exactly playing badly in Sunday’s showdown, the Swiss number one was unable to impose his game against the in-form Englishman who has managed to win his second Basel title without dropping a set all week.

After taking a more strenuous route to the final, as well as competing in the doubles competition, Federer seemed to show signs of tiredness in his serving on Sunday, failing to produce his normal display of power.

As a result, Henman was able to attack Federer’s serve with aggressive abandon, with a break in each of the first two sets enough to put the Englishman clearly in the driving seat.

Unable to muster much support from his tense home crowd, Federer was offered just three break points all match, all three of which Henman was able to rescue with the sort of assured service game which seemed to have temporarily deserted his young Swiss opponent.

Any chance of a Federer comeback in the best-of-five final disappeared in the third set when an invincible looking Henman broke a dejected Federer twice more to comfortably wrap up his fourth win in four meetings between the two players.

Satisfying

“It’s certainly satisfying when you play matches like that,” beamed a happy Henman after continuing his impressive run of results in Basel, “because I don’t really think I put a foot wrong all day. It’s always enjoyable to come back to a city you’ve done well in before and the high crowd attendance you get here also makes for a great atmosphere.”

As well as praising his Swiss hosts the Englishman had words of comfort for his Swiss oppponent.

“He can hit any shot and he’s got so much variation which isn’t an easy thing when you’re developing,” said Henman. “There’s absolutely no question that he’ll win this tournament one day and he’ll win many bigger and better ones.”

swissinfo