TENNIS – It is hard to believe that Roger Federer and Serena Williams are well into their 30’s at 34 and 33 years old respectively. This week at the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati, Ohio, they both showed why they are truly legends of the game. Federer took out world’s number 1 Novak Djokovic 7-6(1) 6-3 as Serena defeated Simona Halep 6-3 7-6(5). It is incredible to see that both Federer and Serena remain so competitive even at this “advanced age” in tennis and produce some of their best tennis in these big moments against their younger rivals.
Federer came into this tournament having faced Djokovic 4 times already for the year in four finals, Dubai, Indian Wells, Rome and Wimbledon. The Swiss came out victorious only in Dubai. All the others, he was outmatched and outplayed by the Serbian. However, here in Cincinnati, a tournament Federer has won on 6 previous occasions including being the defending champion (2005, 2007, 2009/10, 2012, 2014) he is well used to the conditions. Djokovic had yet to a win a set much more the title at this event where he has made it to the finals on 4 other occasions (2008/09, 2011/12).
Federer started off strong holding serve with ease. In fact for the entire tournament, he has not been broken once only facing 3 break points. In this final match, he would not concede a single break point to Djokovic. However, as per his usual custom, Federer had 4 early break points but was unable to convert in the first set. Djokovic was dogged on his service games and a tiebreaker was needed to determine the winner of the opening set. Federer played an incredible breaker, rushing the net with purpose and precision, thoroughly confounding Djokovic who only won a single point. Federer snatched the opening set 7-6(1) in 52 minutes.
Djokovic is not one to be easily dismissed in a match. He has showed trademark defensive and comeback prowess this week in Cincinnati particularly in his wins over David Goffin and Alexandr Dolgopolov. However, Federer is no regular run of the mill ATP player and conditions such as these highly favoured Federer over Djokovic. Djokovic allowed the disappointment of losing the opening set to linger as he double faulted twice in a row to give Federer the crucial break for a 2-0 lead.
Federer remained aggressive and continued to be precise with his serving and maintained the break advantage to the end. He served out the set at love for a 7-6(1) 6-3 victory. This is the 2nd consecutive week that Djokovic is losing a final including last week in Montreal to Andy Murray. This is his 5th Cincinnati final and he has yet to win a set. Federer now leads the head-to-head 21-20 against Djokovic.
The numbers for Federer were very impressive as he was 21/29 at net emphasizing his aggressive style and refusal to allow Djokovic to dictate play by battling out from the baseline and the back of the court. The Swiss won 83% of his 1st serves and 73% on the 2nd whereas Djokovic was 70% on 1st and 47% on 2nd. Federer had this to say after the match about his performance, “I’ll always mix it up and make it I guess uncomfortable for my opponent. I’m not going to play the way they like it. I’ll always come out and make it an athletic match or make it uncomfortable in the sense that they don’t know what’s coming.”
Serena took on Simona Halep in the final. Both women were looking for their first title of the summer and it was a wonderfully contested final but in the end, Serena proved to be better on the bigger points. Halep broke for a 2-0 lead in the opening set but Serena broke back to level at 3-3. The American raised her level to take the next three games taking it 6-3. Serena carried this momentum into the 2nd set as she served for a 3-1 lead. However, Halep was not going to be deterred having had to retire from her match last week in the Toronto final against Belinda Bencic. Halep weathered the storm that is Serena’s return game and forced Serena to serve to stay in the set. Serena held serve and forced the tiebreaker which was determined by a lone minibreak 7-6(5). It was a wonderfully contested match up, one that fans would hope to see several more times.
This is Serena’s 5th title of the year and 69th overall putting her 5th on all-time most titles list. She is also ahead of the Emirates US Open Series list along with Andy Murray for the men.
