Top seed Roger Federer survived an early scare before taking the Masters Series event in Hamburg with a 4-6 6-4 6-2 6-3 victory over Guillermo Coria, bringing an end to the Argentinian's 31-match unbeaten run on clay.

The two players had never met in any ATP tournament or Grand Slam and when the defending champion Coria won the first set, the final that everybody had been hoping for at the start of the week looked as if it could live up to its billing.

But once Federer found his rhythm there was only going to be one winner.

Coria got off to a flying start, taking advantage of a nervy start from Federer and breaking the world number one's serve in the opening game.

The number two seed refused to surrender his early cushion and took the opening set in 36 minutes.

The pair exchanged breaks early in the second before the man from Switzerland, improving with every game, raised the tempo and tied things up.

The pendulum had swung back towards Federer and he raced 3-0 ahead in the third.

Coria refused to lie down and continued to chip away at the lead but a weak service game at 5-2 behind gave Federer the set.

When Coria received treatment for a blister on his hand early in the fourth, the players were given an extended rest.

It was Federer who benefited and he quickly established a 3-0 cushion with a love service game and the demoralised Coria could not claw his way back.