Federer rallies past Gasquet after slow start in Toronto

By Bill Scott Aug 14, 2006, 0:11 GMT

Toronto - Roger Federer rallied to secure a lucky seventh title this season as he survived a first-set explosion of form from Richard Gasquet before finally subduing the Frenchman 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 to win the Toronto Masters Sunday.

Nothing rattled the Swiss despite losing the first set in 31 minutes.

'I knew I had to wake up and do something. I couldn't get comfortable in the beginning,' said Federer, who lifted the title in 2004.

'He was on fire. I had some luck here and there. But in the end it was a win for me in a tournament final,' Federer said.

The Swiss has now won five of his past seven Masters events, and stands at 62-4 this season. It was his fifth win in a row over Gasquet after losing to the Frenchman in their first match in Monte Carlo in April 2005.

Federer began breaking the will of the 20-year-old as he fought back from 0-40 to hold serve in the opening game of the second set.

'I couldn't believe that I started the set so bad. But that can also take away his confidence by coming back and winning that game. 'That's exactly what I did,' Federer said.

Gasquet will rise into the top 30 after reaching the final, from his current 51st.

'I played a wonderful first set,' said the Frenchman, who suffered with an elbow injury at the start of the season. 'I returned really good and I was aggressive.'

'Maybe Roger didn't play his best set, but after I'm sure he played his best match in the second and third sets,' Gasquet said, adding that he regretted not maintaining the momentum in the second.

'With Roger, when you have chances you must take them. If I had broken (in the second), it might have been another match,' Gasquet said.

The victory handed the world number 1 his 40th career trophy and extended his winning streak in North America to 54 on the trot.

But it wasn't always that way for Swiss playing across the Atlantic.

'I really struggled here at the start of my career. It was always too windy, too hot, too not-my-style. It was a question of getting used to it, making a habit of playing over here,' he said.

Federer last lost in North America to Dominik Hrbaty in the first round of Cincinnati in August 2004.

The Swiss player was competing for the first time since defeating Rafael Nadal for a fourth consecutive Wimbledon trophy a month ago.

Victory marked the 18th in a row for Federer and put the top seed to 84-3 on hard courts since the start of 2005.

'Today was very close,' said Federer, whose 41 unforced errors outpaced his 31 winners. 'It was a fantastic match. You just have to keep playing and fighting. I played a great match today - but I had to in order to win.'