Federer claimed his 87th career ATP title and his 24th trophy in a Masters 1000 event. PHOTO: AFP
The victory in 90 minutes means the Swiss will be seeded second behind Djokovic at Flushing Meadows.
Djokovic was thwarted in his bid to become the first man to win all nine of the elite Masters 1000 titles as he endured his fifth final defeat at Cincinnati — the lone Masters missing from his resume.
“I really hope Novak can win here one day,” said Federer, who has beaten Djokovic in three Cincinnati finals. “He’s been close so many years, he deserves it.”
The 17-time Grand Slam winner returns to second in the world after ceding the position for a week to Andy Murray, who beat Djokovic in the final at Montreal last week.
Sunday’s defeat means the Serbian world number one has now failed in finals at both of his tune-up events for the final Grand Slam of the year, which starts on August 31.
The 34-year-old Swiss — who was not broken all week — nudged ahead of Djokovic 21-20 in their head-to-head series.
After struggling all week, Djokovic said he knew Federer would be a tough nut to crack. “I knew coming in that he was going to be aggressive, no question about it. So I tried to handle it,” he said. “The way I played this week, it’s great I managed to reach the finals.”
However, Djokovic is not giving up on his Cincinnati dream. “This year I got to the final, it’s a step closer,” he said. “I’m going to keep going, keep fighting to make history. Obviously it’s a great incentive and inspired me to come back and play my best tennis.”
Serena’s second straight Cincinnati title
Serena Williams continued to work her way up the list of WTA tennis legends, winning her 69th career title with a straight-sets win over Simona Halep at the WTA Cincinnati tournament.
The world number one claimed her second straight Cincinnati trophy and moved past Aussie legend Evonne Goolagong into fifth place in the all-time WTA win list in the Open Era. Martina Navratilova heads the list with 167 singles crowns.
The 33-year-old American rallied past third seed Halep 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) on Sunday for her fifth title of 2015.
“I think that playing Simona really tested me, and I felt like I was up for the challenge and up for the test,” said Serena. “I definitely feel there is room for improvement.”
Halep, who handed Serena one of the worst losses of her career at the 2014 WTA Finals in Singapore, surpassed Maria Sharapova as the second-ranked player in the world when the new rankings come out Monday.
Serena will be bidding for history at the US Open as she attempts to complete a rare calendar-year Grand Slam in singles.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 25th, 2015.
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