Defending champion Roger Federer of Switzerland has won the Tennis Masters Cup title in Houston, Texas, with a rain-delayed 6-3, 6-2 victory over Australian Lleyton Hewitt. VOA's Steve Schy has more on the ATP Tour's season-ending event.
Rain interrupted play for most of the day and for more than an hour during the final, which was shortened from a best-of-five-sets match to the best-of-three.
Federer's win was his 11th title of the year and 23rd consecutive triumph over a top-10 opponent - a run that began with his 2003 Cup title. Federer says this season has shown that he can win consistently.
"For me, I have really proven on all surfaces, everywhere in the world that I can win the title and I think that makes it very special this whole year. Because the season I have had, I have basically won on all continents. It has just been incredible for me," he said.
The Swiss, world number-one ranked player dominated Sunday's match, hitting 29 winners compared to only nine by Hewitt. The Australian connected on only 51-percent of his first serves, compared to 64-percent for Federer.
Despite the loss, Hewitt, who ended the year ranked third in the world behind Federer and American Andy Roddick, was happy with his season. "I think I can take a lot of positives away, not only from the whole year, but especially the last two big tournaments I played - obviously the U.S. Open and here at the Masters Cup against the best players in the world. You know, right through the U.S. Open I felt (I was) the better player," he said. "I did not drop a set right through and it has really only been Roger that I have ended up losing to in the two finals."
The 23-year-old Federer clinched the year-end world-number-one honors in September after winning the U.S. and Australian Open titles and a second consecutive Wimbledon title.
