Federer ties Borg’s grass-court streak

Roger Federer won his fourth consecutive title at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany, and tied Bjorn Borg’s record of 41 straight grass-court wins with a 6-0, 6-7 (4), 6-2 victory Sunday over fifth-seeded Tomas Berdych.

Federer tied Borg’s record, set between 1976 and 1981, while playing in his ninth final in nine tournaments in 2006. He became the Halle tournament’s only four-time winner.

•Lleyton Hewitt defeated American James Blake 6-4, 6-4 to win the grass-court championship at the Queen’s Club tournament in London.

The eighth-seeded Australian, who won three straight titles at the Wimbledon warmup from 2000-2002, joined John McEnroe and Boris Becker as four-time winners.

•Vera Zvonareva won her first title in 16 months, a 7-6 (12), 7-6 (5) victory over Jamea Jackson at the DFS Classic in Birmingham, England.

•Sixth-seeded Marcos Baghdatis struggled to a 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory against Ivo Minar to advance to the second round of the Ordina Open in Den Bosch, Netherlands.

Also Sunday, seventh-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero overcame a challenge from Dutch wild-card entry Robin Haase to win 6-4, 3-6, 6-2. The Ordina Open, a warm-up for Wimbledon, is the Netherlands’ only event played on grass courts.

On the women’s side, fifth-seeded Ana Ivanovic of Serbia and Montenegro downed Australia’s Alicia Molik, 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 to reach the second round. Dutchwoman Brenda Schultz-McCarthy marked her return to the circuit with a 7-5, 6-3 win against American Laura Granville.

Basketball

Farmar staying in draft

UCLA guard Jordan Farmar confirmed his decision to remain in the NBA draft Sunday, a move that will split up the Bruins’ backcourt duo of Farmar and Arron Afflalo.

Afflalo announced Saturday that he had withdrawn his name from the June 28 draft. He did not hire an agent, so he will return for his junior season.

The deadline to withdraw was Sunday.

“It was really tough. It went down to the wire,” said Farmar, who said he plans to hire an agent within days. “There were so many positives both ways.”

•All-Big East center Aaron Gray will skip the NBA draft and return to Pitt for his senior season, a decision that could make the Panthers the conference favorite next season.

Gray declared for the NBA draft April 27, but did not hire an agent. That meant he could work out for NBA teams, but retain his college eligibility if he changed his mind.

Miscellany

Ullrich wins Suisse

Jan Ullrich won the Tour de Suisse with a commanding victory in the final stage’s time trial, overcoming yellow jersey holder Koldo Gil Perez of Spain.

Ullrich, who won the Tour de France in 1997, finished the rain-soaked 19-mile individual time trial from Kerzers in 38 minutes, 45 seconds. That gave him a total time of 38 hours, 21 minutes, 36 seconds.

Ullrich had been third in the overall standings after Saturday’s eighth stage.

•American Rebecca Ward had four consecutive touches to close the match against Russia’s Sophia Velikaia and lead the U.S. team to a 45-44 victory in the finals of the women’s sabre team event in the Fencing World Cup in Las Vegas.