Novak Djokovic beats Roger Federer in Cincinnati Masters final

Novak Djokovic has won the men’s singles final at the Western and Southern Open, AKA the Cincinnati Masters, on Sunday. Djokovic bested Roger Federer in the final, 6-4, 6-4.

Sunday’s final was the last big singles match before the US Open gets underway on Aug. 27, though some competitors will be taking part in small tournaments in the week prior to that. Cincinnati was the big tournament prior to the year’s final Grand Slam.

Djokovic and Federer faced each other 45 times prior to Sunday’s match, with Djokovic holding a narrow 23-22 edge in the head-to-head. He had won their last two matches. A total of 34 of their previous matches were contested on hard courts, with each winning 17 of them prior to Sunday.

Now, their head-to-head includes 35 hard court matches and 46 total matches, with Djokovic holding an 18-17 edge in the former and a 24-22 edge in the latter, the overall.

On the very first game, Federer went up 30-0, but Djokovic quickly battled back and had a quick break point attempt. Federer fought it off, and then fought off a second one before holding. Djokovic responded with a quick hold and the match was on.

There wasn’t another break attempt until Djokovic had advantage while Federer was serving at 3-3. It was Djokovic’s third break attempt of the set, and he was successful, forcing a backhand error for the point and the break. After a pair of holds, Djokovic was serving for the set.

In the second set, Federer held to start, and then he saw his first break point opportunity, which he seized to go up 2-0. Djokovic very quickly responded with multiple break attempts on Federr’s next serve, and he eventually converted to get back on serve. Djokovic scored a second break with Federer serving at 3-3, and then was serving to go up 5-3 on the match.

He was successful, and Federer was up next. Federer went up, 40-30, but double faulted to bring it to deuce. After a Djokovic unforced error and a solid serve from Federer, he held, with Djokovic serving for the match. He managed to hold despite some strong shots from Federer, taking the victory.

Federer skipped the Rogers Cup to keep himself fresh, and it will be extremely interesting to see how he looks at the US Open.

In the women’s final, Kiki Bertens needed three sets, but ultimately downed world No. 1 Simona Halep, 2-6, 7-6(6), 6-2.

Bertens’ run through the tournament included wins over world No. 30 Anett Kontaveit, No. 24 Coco Vandeweghe, No. 7 Elina Svitolina, No. 6 Petra Kvitova, No. 2 Caroline Wozniacki and, of course, Halep. It was a remarkable tournament for her, and she should be in great shape heading into the US Open.