World No. 1 Roger Federer defeated No. 4 seed Novak Djokovic 6-1, 7-5 on Sunday for his fourth title of the year at the Western and Southern Financial Group Masters in Cincinnati.
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It was Federer’s eighth win in 12 meetings against Djokovic. The 28-year-old Federer is the fourth player to win at least three titles at Cincinnati in the Open Era (since 1968). He has won 16 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles (16-9 overall), second only to Andre Agassi’s 17.
Federer saved one set point at 4-5, 30-40 in the second set, converting four of 15 break point opportunities.
“I think the special part [is] winning for the first time as a dad. It’s a great thing. Gets me going emotionally a little bit, because I know it’s been a wonderful summer,” Federer said. “I really had the feeling today I could mix it up the way I wanted to. That then gives me a lot of confidence. I was playing great from the beginning to the end.”
Federer said he is also free of some of the pain he was suffering earlier in the year.
“It’s good to know that when I need a good serve I can hit it, whereas maybe last week [at the Rogers Cup in Montreal] I still had some muscle pain just from coming back on tour,” Federer said. “I got the muscle pain out and got used to hitting big serves again. I have no back problem and pain, so that allows me again to play freely and focus on the way I want to play and not the way I have to hit the shot. That’s a big difference today than a few months ago.”
Djokovic fell to 13-11 in career finals.
“He was just too good in the first set. I didn’t start very energetic, and my body language wasn’t [what] it was last night [against Rafael Nadal],” Djokovic said. “I found the rhythm [at] the start of the second set. I thought I would be able to hold on, but he just put too much pressure on my service games. If you play against Roger without the first serve, I don’t think you have a lot of chances.”
“Overall, it’s [a] final and it’s been [a] great week for me, and I got a lot of matches in before the US Open. I’m satisfied. I didn’t start that great the tournament. I had some slow starts, but I had some big servers for opponents. I will try to work in these seven days before US Open on things, on a better approach to the match and being aggressive from the start. If I manage to do that, I think I can get far.”
In the doubles final the top-seeded Bryan brothers failed to convert on eight match points, losing to No. 2 seeds Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic 3-6, 7-6(2), 15-13.
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