HAMBURG, Germany, 16 May 2005 — Switzerland’s Roger Federer retained his Hamburg Masters title with a comprehensive 6-3, 7-5, 7-6 victory over French teenager Richard Gasquet yesterday.

The world No. 1’s win avenged his defeat by the 18-year-old in the quarterfinals of the Monte Carlo Masters last month, one of only two losses Federer has suffered in his last 59 matches.

The top seed was never at his best but Gasquet, ranked 56, failed to convert his break points when they came as Federer secured his 19th consecutive victory in an ATP final.

The win, wrapped up 7-4 in the third-set tiebreak, completed a highly satisfactory warm-up for Federer a week before he bids to win the French Open claycourt grand slam for the first time.

He did not drop a set all week and earned 340,000 euros ($436,800) for winning his third Hamburg title in four years.

Federer has made a habit of starting his matches slowly this week but was quickly 3-0 up at the Rothenbaum against Gasquet, albeit with the help of a forehand smash net-cord on break point.

Errors flowed as freely as winners from his racket after that and he saved three break points at 4-2 before serving out the first set.

Gasquet, playing in his second ATP tour final, was on top for much of the second set but squandered two more break point chances and paid a heavy price.

Federer broke to love to lead 6-5 after an untimely stream of Gasquet mis-hits and in the next game the Swiss classily wrong-footed the teenager with an ace to go two sets up. Federer missed last week’s Rome Masters with strained foot ligaments.

Mauresmo Reigns Again in Rome

Amelie Mauresmo fought back from a set and a break down to win her second consecutive Rome Masters title by beating eighth seed Patty Schnyder 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 yesterday.

It was a well-deserved victory for Mauresmo, who went into the final with an impressive record in the Italian capital.

The Frenchwoman was contesting her fifth Rome final in six years and had not dropped a set on the way to yesterday’s final, while Schynder’s best previous result in the Italian capital had been a semifinal back in 1997.

Mauresmo had also won six of their last eight meetings, though the left-handed Schnyder had been in superb form all week, shattering Maria Sharapova’s hopes of claiming the world No. 1 spot when she defeated her in the semifinals.