Roger Federer of Switzerland claimed his third title of the year by crushing Finland's Jarkko Nieminen 6-1, 6-4 in the Munich Open final on Sunday.
Top seed Federer, playing his first claycourt tournament of the season, crowned an impressive overall performance in the Bavarian city by brushing aside the eighth-seeded Nieminen in 56 minutes.
Federer, who started the year with victories in Marseille and Dubai, has now won seven ATP titles in his career compared to none for Nieminen in four final appearances.
"Clay is not my favourite surface and I'm surprised to be playing so well after just a few weeks of training," said Federer, who started the week in fifth position in the Champions Race.
Nieminen, ranked 37th in the Champions Race, was totally outplayed in the first set and put up a brave challenge in the second, but Federer stepped up a gear when he had to.
"I got better as the match went on but to have a chance against Roger you have to play your best tennis for the whole match," said Nieminen.
The battle between the two 21-year-olds was one-sided, Nieminen slumping to his third defeat in straight sets in as many encounters with the gifted Swiss.
After losing the first two games to love, Nieminen briefly gave the impression he could fight his way back by breaking his opponent in the third.
But Federer was soon back in command, winning the next four games to take the first set in just 19 minutes with Nieminen hitting a return long on set point.
Nieminen woke up to take the first three games of the second set but Federer responded by winning the next four for a 4-3 lead.
Nieminen managed to break his opponent again in the eighth game but dropped serve immediately afterwards, Federer firing a superb forehand winner on break point to serve for the match.
The unheralded Finn survived a match point before bowing out by hitting a forehand wide on the second.
Federer needed no time to adapt to the slow surface, advancing to the final without dropping a set, and will definitely be one to watch at the French Open starting on May 26.
