King Federer retains Hamburg crown

The top seed was never at his best but Gasquet, ranked 56, failed to convert his break points when they came as Federer secured his 19th consecutive victory in an ATP final.

The win, wrapped up 7-4 in the third-set tiebreak, completed a highly satisfactory warm-up for Federer a week before he bids to win the French Open claycourt grand slam for the first time.

He did not drop a set all week and earned 340,000 euros ($436,800) for winning his third Hamburg title in four years.

Federer has made a habit of starting his matches slowly this week but was quickly 3-0 up at the Rothenbaum against Gasquet, albeit with the help of a forehand smash net-cord on break point.

Errors flowed as freely as winners from his racket after that and he saved three break points at 4-2 before serving out the first set.

Gasquet, playing in his second ATP tour final, was on top for much of the second set but squandered two more break point chances and paid a heavy price.

Gasquet’s consolation was that he will break into the top 50 for the first time in Monday’s rankings.