by Mauro Cappiello

Yesterday in Halle Roger Federer won his second tournament of the year and second since the start of his partnership with Stefan Edberg. The Swede was in Germany only for three days at the start of the week and had two hitting sessions with the former world number one, so, like last February in Dubai, he wasn't on the stands to see his assisted lift his seventh Gerry Weber Open trophy since 2003.

After a shaky second round match against Portuguese Joao Sousa, Federer lifted his game level and made his grass-court mastery prevail in the only two other matches, the semifinal against Kei Nishikori and the final against Alejandro Falla (Lu withdrew before the start of the quarter-final match).

The Halle title defense will surely comfort his staff, looking forward to the climax of Wimbledon and the American hard-court season, where, according to Stefan, Roger Federer has better chances against his top rivals and can legitimately hope to add an 18th trophy to his outstanding collection of Majors.

In the post-match media interview, Federer was asked again about the progress of his game since the start of his agreement with Edberg. «He was only here on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, - replied the Swiss - but he gave me a lot of input during practice and how he sees me playing.»

Federer also confirmed that Edberg will be in Wimbledon with him.