World number one Roger Federer took the Cincinnati Masters title for the third time with a straight-sets win over fourth seed Novak Djokovic. Federer followed up Saturday's semi-final defeat of Andy Murray with a 6-1 7-5 win against Djokovic. After dominating the first set, Federer had to battle back from a break down in the second to seal victory. The Swiss will now head to New York ahead of the US Open, which gets under way on 31 August. He is the five-time defending champion at Flushing Meadows and will be confident of claiming a sixth title after his performances against Murray and Djokovic. "Overall, it's been a great week for me," he said. "I got a lot of matches in before the US Open, so I'm satisfied.
"I started quite slow but then the quarter-finals was a little bit better, and then the semi-final was a great match." Federer also won Cincinnati in 2005 and 2007, and Sunday's victory gives him a 61st career title and 16th at the elite Masters 1000 level. "I had twin girls a month ago, it's been an unbelievable summer for me - in my personal life and on the tennis court," said Federer, who also won a record 15th Grand Slam title at Wimbledon in July. "I couldn't be more happy right now. I didn't know if I'd be able to play here because of Myla and Charlene. "Thanks to them coming earlier - it was good timing! I look forward to coming back here next year."
Djokovic had to suffer defeat in a Masters 1000 final for the fourth time this year, and he joked: "Unfortunately I was born in the wrong era. "I was very close in most of those finals, but I don't think this is some kind of curse or something. "Everybody is playing great tennis. Those two guys, (Rafael) Nadal and Federer, and of course Murray, they're all playing fantastic tennis. "Roger and Rafa are maybe two of the best players that ever played this game. Roger for sure is." | |||||
