Federer Brutalizes Blake for Masters Cincinnati TitlePosted on August 20, 2007 American James Blake went from contender to pretender Sunday in the final at the Masters Series-Cincinnati, stomped 6-1, 6-4 by world No. 1 Roger Federer who collected his 50th career title.
The hot-handed Blake was trying to duplicate the upset feat by Novak Djokovic in Montreal by handing the Swiss his second consecutive loss in a Masters Series final, by Federer would have no part of it, wrapping up the first set in 26 minutes and breaking Blake twice. In the second set Blake had his chances but Federer broke at 3-3 and rode out the win. Over half of Federer's 50 titles have come at Grand Slam, Masters Series and year-end Masters events. Federer improved to 7-0 lifetime against Blake, while the American fell to 1-3 this year in finals. "I struggled for a lot of the week and was maybe a little lucky on Saturday beating (Lleyton) Hewitt in a third-set tiebreak," Federer said."The scoreboard might not show it but I definitely had to play my best to win. It was a great week for me and I'm now really excited about the US Open." For Blake it was his first time in the quarterfinals or better this year at a Masters Series event. "From the start here I felt great," Blake said. "Everything felt great until I ran into Roger, but that seems to happen to everyone a lot." Federer reached 50 titles at a younger age than historical rival Pete Sampras at 26 years of age, but behind four Open Era players in Bjorn Borg (23 years old), Jimmy Connors (23), John McEnroe (25), and Ivan Lendl (25). In the doubles final the Israeli duo of Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram saved two match points to drop the Bryan brothers to 8-4 on the season in finals, winning their first Masters Series title 4-6, 6-3, 13-11. |
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