Federer's reign at Halle continues

Swiss bags first title of the season

World number three Roger Federer clinched his first title of the season when he battled back from a set down to beat Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-4 and win the Halle Open on Sunday.

Federer, who has now won the Wimbledon warm-up event on grass six times, needed to dig deep for his 77th career title and extend his head-to-head with Youzhny to an impressive 15-0.

The 31-year-old won three break points in the first game but Youzhny's powerful serve got the world number 29 out of early trouble. The Russian, who defeated three seeded players en route to the final, held serve and matched Federer's skill on grass with hammering groundstrokes.

Federer, who has now beaten Youzhny five times at Halle since 2002, saved a set point at 5-6 but conceded another in the tiebreak for the Russian to take the lead with a well-placed volley.

Murray triumphs

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 in London on 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 allowing him to dictate the rallies.
Bhupathi-Bopanna exit

Third seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna crashed out of the Aegon Championships after suffering 4-6, 2-6 defeat at the hands of top seeds Bob and Mike Bryan in the semifinals.