TENNIS in DEPTH.

Roger Federer won the season-ending title for the fifth time and laid down a marker for 2011 with a three-set victory over world number one Rafael Nadal in London. The 29-year-old’s attacking game carried the Swiss to a 6-3 3-6 6-1 win in one hour and 37 minutes at the O2 Arena. Federer’s victory ensured that an inconsistent year by his standards was bookended by wins at the Australian Open in January and now the ATP World Tour Finals in November.

Nadal had been hoping to land the only significant title to so far elude him but a three-hour semi-final against Andy Murray on Saturday looked to have taken the edge off his game, and Federer proved the stronger in the closing stages. And while Sunday’s final never quite matched the heights of their last meeting in London – Nadal’s epic 2008 Wimbledon final victory – it proved beyond doubt that Federer will be chasing hard on the world number one’s heels next year.

The last time the top two players in the world contested the year-end final was 24 years ago, when Ivan Lendl beat Boris Becker in New York, and few match-ups in history can have prompted such excitement as Federer and Nadal’s six-year rivalry.

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