Roger Federer claimed his fourth successive Gerry Weber Open crown on Sunday after a week he described as "one of the hardest ever."

The Swiss world number one beat 20-year-old Tomas Berdych 6-0 6-7 (4-7) 6-2 - his fourth three-set victory in the last four days and a triumph which saw him equal Bjorn Borg's record 41-match winning run on grass.

Richard Gasquet, Olivier Rochus and Tommy Haas had all also taken Federer to a deciding set with Belgian Rochus blowing four match points in the quarter-finals.

With all this coming just a week after the French Open final against eventual winner Rafael Nadal, there is little wonder Federer was satisfied to have prevailed in Halle.

He said: "Winning this tournament gives me enormous satisfaction.

"Apart from the Grand Slams, it has been one of the hardest weeks ever."

It looked anything but hard when Federer raced through the first set in 16 minutes, allowing his young opponent just six points in the process.

Berdych said: "Everything went so quickly. He was so good and I made so many errors."

A toilet break at the end of the first set seemed to calm Berdych's nerves and he played his way back into the match, the players exchanging breaks of serve to set up a tie-break which the Czech clinched with an ace.

But two breaks handed the initiative back to Federer in the third and he served it out by taking his first match point to secure the victory in one hour and 35 minutes.

The Basle-born star will start as the overwhelming favourite at Wimbledon when the year's third Grand Slam event gets under way on June 26.

Berdych is certainly tipping the three-time defending champion to go all the way again at SW19 this year.

"I don't think anybody can beat Roger at Wimbledon," said Berdych.

A diplomatic Federer countered by adding: "That is easy to say, but he obviously doesn't know what it takes to win a Grand Slam."