Wimbledon and Australian Open champion Roger Federer on Sunday beat world number one Rafael Nadal 6-4 6-3 in the Shanghai Masters final.
The victory, his sixth straight win over Nadal, hands Federer his sixth title of the year and his 27th Masters 1000 title.
The match, which lasted just over one hour, saw an imperious Federer take hold of the game and not looking fazed as he shrugged off the challenge of his clay court nemesis,
Speaking after the entertaining match, Nadal congratulated Federer, saying, “I want to congratulate Roger for a great year. Today you played a fantastic match.
“This year for him has been my most successful year in China. It’s been a great two weeks, I feel very happy for what has happened for me.”
Federer, on his part, shared his joy at being at an event he missed last year due to injury. He congratulated Nadal and saying, “it’s nice to share this court with you (Rafa) today and hopefully we’ve got more to come.”
The 36-year-old remains in the running for the world number one spot as the gap between him and Nadal is just 1940 points with 1500 points at stake for the winner at Basel and Paris.
Federer has, however, hinted at a possible rest instead of participating in both tournaments.
He said: “I’m not thinking about it (No. 1 spot). I just try to be healthy now. I’ll go back to Switzerland tomorrow with my team and decide what I’m going to play, whether I’ll go to Basel and Paris. I’m focused on London and winning there. If I play like this, maybe, who knows I’ll get close to it.”
The two of them have had a resurgence this year, sharing the grand slams equally between themselves and leading Team Europe to victory in the inaugural Laver Cup 2017.
