Stenson defends Woeful Liverpool Dubai title suffer more 18 pain19 at Palace MONDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2014 Kohli ready to captain India against Australia Page 16 FRANCE: (Left to right) Switzerland’s Davis Cup team captain Severin Luthi and tennis players Roger Federer, Stanislas Wawrinka, Marco Chiudinelli and Michael Lammer celebrate with the trophy after winning the Davis Cup final between France and Switzerland. -— AP Tears of joy for Federer in Davis Cup glory LILLE: Roger Federer gave Switzerland and Slam titles, the Olympic title and the Davis to Wawrinka in four sets on Friday, was manfully each time to hold his own. Federer The pressure on his own serve was all the himself a first Davis Cup title yesterday in Cup. struggling with an arm injury and generally failed to convert two set points at 5-4 up, more acute and a tired-looking backhand, Lille, pounding Richard Gasquet of France in “It’s an an enormous pleasure for me, I’ve out of sorts. but another love service game did the trick which sailed well wide, handed Federer the straight sets to ensure the winning point. waited 15 years for this,” Federer said. “This In came Gasquet with the monumental in the following game. final break of serve he needed. Federer romped to a 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 win to has been a perfect weekend in a crazy task of defeating Federer and opening the When Federer broke serve to open the Two games later it was all over, Federer hand the Swiss an unbeatable 3-1 lead after atmosphere and all the Swiss fans helped us door for the possibility of the in-form second set, the heads visibly went down in falling to his knees in celebration after a Stan Wawrinka had won the opening sin- enormously. Monfils defeating Wawrinka in the decider. the French camp, while the outnumbered final perfect backhand drop shot. He then gles of the match and the world number But he refused to accept that finally win- Another world record crowd of 27,488 Swiss supporters got to their feet. shed some tears as he savored a hugely two and four had teamed up to win the ning the Davis Cup made him the greatest roared their support for Gasquet as the two The merest point earned by Gasquet on emotional win. doubles on Saturday. player of all-time. “That’s of no importance players came out on to the red claycourt set the Federer serve brought an ear-splitting The French team looked miserable on It was one of the greatest sporting tri- to me, what matters is that I enjoy playing down inside one half of a roofed over Lille reaction from the French fans and the occa- the closing ceremony podium as they umphs for Switzerland, the 14th nation to tennis,” he added. football stadium. sional rendition of ‘La Marseillaise’. watched Federer get his hands on the Davis win the Davis Cup, and a huge personal Organisers promptly announced that the But it was all to no avail as a calm-as-you- Cup for the first time after years of trying. milestone for Federer to go with his 17 scheduled fifth and final rubber opposing STRUGGLING like Federer brought up three more break “(Federer) was exceptional in every Grand Slam titles, six Masters titles and Gael Monfils and Wawrinka had been can- The 33-year-old Swiss superstar executed points and converted the second of those aspect of his play,” French captain Arnaud Olympic doubles gold. celled and that the final score was an exquisite half-volley to bring up break to pocket the second set. Clement said. “Richard (Gasquet) tried to It left him with just an Olympic singles Switzerland 3 France 1. point in the third game and sealed that with Gasquet put up some desperate late be aggressive but Roger was just stunning. gold to win in Rio in 2016 to become just Federer had expected to play Jo-Wilfried a superb backhand down the line. fight at the start of the second set, garner- “It’s hard for us to take but on the day we the third man, after great rival Rafael Nadal Tsonga in the first of yesterday’s two rub- Gasquet could make no inroads at all on ing a few points on the Federer serve, but have to say that the Swiss were the better and Andre Agassi, to win all four Grand bers, but the French number one, who lost the Federer serve and he was struggling he failed to earn a single break point. team.” — AFP Hamilton clinches second world title ABU DHABI: Lewis Hamilton clinched his second drivers’ world championship and became the first British multiple champion for 46 years when he won yesterday’s season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The 29-year-old Englishman, who took his first title in 2008 with McLaren, won not only the 55-lap race, but also his private duel with Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg, who suffered pro- longed problems with his car after making a poor start from pole position. Having started from the prime spot on the grid for the 11th time this year, Rosberg was comprehensively outpaced immedi- ately as Hamilton surged clear to control the race with a well- judged and dominant performance. Hamilton’s victory was his 11th of the season and the 33rd of his record-breaking career and secured a record 16th victory of the season for the Mercedes team. Rosberg finished 14th, lapped by Hamilton and bitterly dis- appointed. “Today I don’t know how but compared to 2008 I was ABU DHABI: Mercedes-AMG’s British driver Lewis Hamilton (center) Williams’ Brazilian driver Felipe Massa (fourth so much more relaxed. I hoped that was a positive - and it was. I left), and Williams’ Finnish driver Valtteri Bottas (third right) stand on the podium at the Yas Marina circuit. — AFP felt so composed,” said Hamilton. Raikkonen in the second Ferrari. Rosberg, on pole, simply could not cope with the “I wanted to battle to the end but will take what we had. Nico Rosberg struggled with a series of problems that hampered Englishman’s remarkable pace and smooth adhesion as he cre- put on an incredible charge and I’m grateful I had a good battle.” his performance, but refused to retire when offered a chance to ated a clear gap as they raced towards the hairpin. Hamilton praised Rosberg who was trying to emulate father pit with two laps remaining. “I’d like to go to the end,” said an By the end of the opening lap, Hamilton had a lead of 1.2 sec- Keke who was world champion in 1982. “Nico has been a rival for emotional Rosberg, who knew his fate when he was lapped at onds and looked comfortable, leaving Rosberg with the prob- the last two years and stepped up his game this year,” he said. the end. lem of finding a solution to a personal nightmare scenario for Hamilton became the fourth British driver to win more than one him. Hamilton’s initial success was his first, in beating his team- championship, joining Jackie Stewart, Jim Clark and Graham Hill, SPORTSMANSHIP mate off the grid from second place, in seven races since the the last man to succeed in 1968. Rosberg, showing great sportsmanship and dignity in defeat, Belgian race, where their relationship hit its lowest point follow- Hamilton came home 2.5 seconds clear of second placed went to the pre-podium room to embrace and congratulate ing a collision that prompted acrimonious accusations. Felipe Massa of Williams and his team-mate Valterri Bottas, who Hamilton, a gesture that spoke volumes for their rivalry. Hamilton continued to set the pace with aplomb. After pit was third. Daniel Ricciardo was fourth for Red Bull ahead of After a tense hour of official preliminaries, the race began stops Massa was left out in front by more than 15 seconds, a lead Briton Jenson Button in what may be his last race with McLaren, under a setting sun with a track temperature of 33 degrees he retained until he pitted on lap 13, Hamilton regaining control Nico Hulkenberg and his Force India team-mate Sergio Perez. Celsius and an air temperature of 26 degrees. with an advantage of 2.3 seconds over Rosberg. ABU DHABI: Mercedes-AMG’s British driver Lewis Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel finished eighth As the lights went out, Hamilton delivered a dream start, his Rosberg’s problems intensified when he ran off the track on Hamilton celebrates with the trophy on the podium in his final race with Red Bull, one position ahead of the man he car accelerating alongside Rosberg’s and then pulling away to lap 23, and he slipped further back when he suffered an Energy at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi. — AFP replaces at Ferrari next season, Fernando Alonso and Kimi secure the lead as they headed into Turn One. Recovery System (ERS) failure. — AFP.