Federer’s 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 6-3 win moves him within 1,460 points of the Spaniard before next week’s Paris Masters, the final regular-season event.
The 36-year-old claimed an eighth crown in Basel and his seventh title of 2017.
Victory for Del Potro would have moved him into the final qualifying place for the ATP finals in London.
Having won in Stockholm last week, the world number 19 was targeting back-to-back titles in Basel but it was not to be for the 29-year-old, who remains one place behind Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta.
Del Potro must reach at least the semi-finals in Paris to claim the final spot.
“It’s unbelievable how well Roger is playing,” said Del Potro. “I hope to be in such shape when I’m his age. But I doubt I will be.”
However, Federer pulled out of next week’s Paris Masters following the final to all but end his chances of taking the year-end world number one spot from Rafael Nadal.
In a tight opening set, Federer had the chance to take it on serve, only for Del Potro to break, and the Swiss player then lost five points in a row to surrender the tie-break.
Federer’s frustrations came to a head in the fourth game of the second set when he blew the chance to stamp his authority back on the match.
The 19-time Grand Slam champion carved out a break point and took control of the rally at 30-40, only to send a simple backhand volley wide.
It triggered an angry outburst as Federer smashed his racquet into the net in a rare show of emotion.
However, he regained his composure to break in the final game of the set, before wrapping up the victory with two further breaks in the third.
Federer now has 95 career titles, with American Jimmy Connors leading the all-time list on 109.
While del Potro will move up to No. 17 when the new rankings are released on Monday, he was close to soaring all the way to No. 12, which he would have reached if he closed out Federer in Basel. The Argentine did not win one point on his second serve in the third set (0/6) and did not capitalise on his chances on Federer’s serve. He reached 30/30 when the Swiss served at 3-1 and 4-2, but could not earn a break point.Â
Federer extended his lead in the pair’s FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry to 18-6, capturing his fifth win in their past six matches.After the final Federer announced he would withdraw from the Rolex Paris Masters. His final event of the year will be the Nitto ATP Finals 12-19 November in London, where he will chase a seventh title at the season finale.
The pair will both head to Paris for the Rolex Masters, where Del Potro will need another strong showing to force his way into the ATP Tour Finals.
In majors, he has won a record eight Wimbledon titles, five Australian Open titles, a record five consecutive US Open titles and one French Open title. He is among eight men to have captured a career Grand Slam and has reached a record 29 men’s singles Grand Slam finals, including ten in a row from the 2005 Wimbledon Championships to the 2007 US Open. Given these achievements, many players and analysts consider Federer the greatest tennis player of all time.
Among Federer’s other ATP tournament records include winning six ATP World Tour Finals, 19 ATP Tour 500 tournaments and playing in the finals at all nine ATP Masters 1000 tournaments. He has also won an Olympic gold medal in doubles with his compatriot Stan Wawrinka at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games and an Olympic silver medal in singles at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. Representing Switzerland, Federer was a part of the 2001 winning Hopman Cup team and the 2014 winning Davis Cup team.
Federer has been named Swiss Sports Personality of the Year a record six times. In 2007, he won the ESPY Award for Best International Athlete and he has won the Best Male Tennis Player award a record seven times. He was namedATP Player of the Year five times, was named ITF World Champion five time, and won the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year for a record four consecutive years. He was named three times the BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year. In 2017, ESPN ranked him fourth in its most famous athletes list.
