HE might be Australia’s next big thing, but Alex de Minaur had no answers for a rampant Roger Federer in front of a home crowd in Basel, Switzerland. The Swiss Master did just that, put on a clinical display, turning back the clock to notch up a record tenth Swiss Indoor title with a smashing 6-2 6-2 victory over the young Aussie.

De Minaur made it to the final after receiving a Wildcard, but with favourable upsets, avoided playing a seeded player in the lead-up to the final. Instead, he defeated qualifier, Hugo Dellien, American Taylor Fritz – who shocked the tournament with a stunning straight-sets upset of second seed, Alexander Zverev – reliable German Jan-Lennard Struff, and thirty-first seed ranked American, Reilly Opelka. In comparison, Federer smashed third seed, Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4 6-4 after a walkover against Swiss counterpart, Stan Wawrinka, not dropping a set for the entire tournament.

Unfortunately for the talented Australian, Federer never looked liked losing the match, breaking a total of four times in 68 minutes to win in a one-sided contest. Having won an impressive 78 per cent of his first service points compared to De Minaur’s 53 per cent, and not serving a double fault for the entire match, Federer was unflappable from start to finish. While De Minaur will undoubtedly benefit from the experience, he won just 52 per cent of his service points, and 28 per cent on return, never genuinely getting a look in. Now Federer will eye off the Rolex Paris Masters next week and the massive Nitto ATP Finals next month. The run to the final saw De Minaur benefit, moving up into the top 20 with a rank of 18.