Roger Federer triumphed in his 15th straight final without a loss on Sunday as he shut down the big game of Ivan Ljubicic 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (7/5) to finally lift a trophy at the 782,250-euros Rotterdam Open. The Swiss world number one, who claimed 11 titles in 2004, now has two for this season - both at the expense of his 19th ranked Croatian opponent.

Federer started the year with a win over the 25-year-old at Doha; the loss in two hours, 42 minutes was the third this season in a final for Ljubicic, beaten a week ago in Marseille by Swede Joachim Johansson.

Federer, playing for the first time since losing in the Australian Open semi-final to Marat Safin, has not been beaten in a tournament final since July, 2003, when Jiri Novak stopped him on clay at Gstaad.

The Swiss improved to 15-1 this season as he lost his serve for the first time this week at the hands of Ljubicic in the first set.

Federer takes away a cheque for 147,000 euros as he heads to Dubai to headline next week's ATP event along with Andre Agassi and Safin. The Swiss winner struck a dozen aces, 42 unforced errors and 28 winners as he defeated Ljubicic for the fifth time in eight meetings.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2005