HALLE, Germany — Roger Federer won his first title of the year Sunday, the world No. 3 beating Russia's Mikhail Youzhny 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-4 in the ATP final at Halle. This was the 31-year-old Swiss great's sixth Halle title and the 77th win of his career. That also saw him draw level with John McEnroe in third position in the all-time career titles list. After losing the opening set the former world No. 1 battled back to preserve his perfect record over Youzhny in 15 meetings in over two hours of play. For Federer, beaten by Rafael Nadal in his only previous final appearance of 2013 on the clay in Rome and brushed aside by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the French Open quarterfinals, this was the ideal preparation ahead of his Wimbledon defense. The top seed, who overcame veteran German Tommy Haas in Saturday's semifinal. was thrilled to finally get off the mark for the year. “Mikhail has produced a great tournament, that's why I'm so happy to have won,” he said. “I had to fight hard to remain in the race in the second set. I served well (he produced 12 aces) and that's what saved me today.” Federer missed five break points in the first set, four of them coming in the opening game, before coming off second best in the tie break after one hour of play. But he fought back to level the encounter against the Russian, going on to win the match with a love game on his service. Murray wins Queen's Andy Murray gave his fans a fright before recovering to beat Croatia's Marin Cilic to win the Aegon Championships for the third time at Queen's Club Sunday. The world No. 2 won a rain-delayed final 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 to give himself the perfect boost for Wimbledon, which starts in eight days. Murray, runner-up at Wimbledon last year, suffered a painful looking slip when leading 4-3 in the first set, yelping in pain and rolling to the turf in apparent distress, and went on to lose the opener against the defending champion. There appeared no lasting damage though as he broke big-serving Cilic in the 12th game of the second set to square the match and was always in control in the decider with his superior baseline game. Hantuchova wins Aegon Classic Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova won her sixth career title Sunday, beating Croatian teenager Donna Vekic 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 to win the Aegon Classic. Fourteen years separated the two finalists but there was little between 16-year-old Vekic and the 60th-ranked Hantuchova. The Slovak struck first in the opening set, breaking her opponent's serve to lead 4-3 but Vekic hit back immediately to level the score. Hantuchova dominated the tiebreaker, however, and despite throwing away a 5-2 lead regained control to win 7-5. A break of serve in the second set at 5-4 proved decisive for Hantuchova. — Agencies
