Federer claims 99th title with Basel triumph

Roger Federer claimed his 99th career ATP Tour title on Sunday but he had to battle to defeat Romanian qualifier Marius Copil 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 in the Swiss Indoors final at Basel.

The top seed claimed his ninth trophy at his home event as he overcame an inspired opponent who took the lead early in each set but was pegged back by the 20-time Grand Slam champion.

Federer will now aim to win No.100 by the end of the season.

“It’s been a magical week for me, a dream run for me,” Federer said, prior to moving onto his traditional post-final pizza party with ball kids – of which he was one here two decades ago.

“Nine is a huge number for me. Winning that many times here is crazy. It’s been a major week for me in terms of records.”

Federer won his 20th straight match at the tournament and has played in 12 straight Basel finals.

“This was almost a turnaround week for me,” the Swiss legend said.

“Maybe I had to win through fighting. Maybe it was different than some of my past victories.

“But winning is fun. Winning gives you confidence. That’s what I need if I want to do well in London, to do my best there.

“But for me now it’s about winning here, I don’t care about anything else. It means the world to me. I’m happy to win in front of my home crowd.”

The 93rd-ranked Copil was competing in the biggest match of his life after emerging from qualifying.

But after knocking out sixth seed Marin Cilic and backing it up by defeating third seed Alexander Zverev in the last four, the Romanian found himself facing the king of the court in the final.

Federer, 37, will be aiming to complete his century at the ATP Finals in London, which starts in a fortnight’s time, but has yet to announce if he will travel to Paris for this week’s final Masters event of the season, where he last played in 2015.

American Jimmy Connors (109) is the only player to have won more than 100 career titles in the professional era.