Tennis: Federer tames Del Potro for second Rotterdam title

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands: Switzerland's Roger Federer won his second title at the Rotterdam Open seven years after his first as he defeated Argentine Juan Martin del Potro 6-1, 6-4 here on Sunday.

Federer now owns 71 career trophies after lifting his first of this season. He finished 2011 with three straight titles indoors at Basel, Paris Bercy and the London year-end championships.

The victory took 30-year-old Federer's record against Del Potro to 9-2, with the Swiss winning three of four in the series after losing the 2009 US Open final to the South American.

Federer, a 16-time Grand Slam winner, has now assured himself of a 12th consecutive year in which he has won at last one ATP title.

Federer ran off to a 5-0 lead, with del Potro finally troubling his Swiss rival after 28 minutes as he rallied for 1-5.

But the comeback start went for nought as Federer maintained his red-hot form to sweep the set in 33 minutes.

Del Potro's resistance stiffened in the second, with the third set forcing Federer to save break points in the fourth, sixth and eighth games.

But along the way, the Swiss broke for 3-2 and closed out the win four games later on his second match point.

Federer's winning week ended a run of two straight singles losses, the Australian Open semis to Rafael Nadal and a Davis Cup rubber last weekend against American John Isner. The last time the Swiss lost two in succession was spring of 2010. (AFP)