Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro overcame home favourite Roger Federer to retain his Swiss Indoors title in Basle.
The top seed beat the five-time former champion 7-6, 2-6, 6-4 in a repeat of last year’s final in a match which lasted two hours and 21 minutes.
Federer was hoping home advantage would help him secure a victory which would earn him a place in the ATP World Tour Finals in London early next month.
“I was lifting my level and in the end I wasn’t playing too badly,” said Federer.
The Swiss must now beat Kevin Anderson or Mikhail Youzhny in his second-round match in the Paris Masters on Wednesday to equal Ivan Lendl’s record of 12 consecutive appearances at the season finale.
Mikhail Youzhny claimed his 10th career title by beating top-seeded David Ferrer 6-3, 7-5 to win the Valencia Open in Spain.
The 31-year-old Russian dominated Ferrer throughout, breaking the defending champion and local favourite four times on the indoor hard court.
“It was a great week for me and a great tournament,” Youzhny said. “It was a great atmosphere throughout.”
