Swiss ace Roger Federer, the world number one demolished American James Blake 6-1, 6-4 to win the Cincinnati Masters and complete a half-century of career ATP titles. It was a predictable result but the nature of victory further asserts his dominance over men’s tennis in the last few years.
The American was expected to give a tough fight to Federer considering the stalwarts he had beaten on the way to the final but he himself dug his own grave, as is the case most of the time. He committed too many unforced errors and even committed 4 double faults in a single game. Such mistakes are not to be committed if one is playing against Roger Federer, and which apparently is an accepted reality in men’s tennis today.
Federer gave further credence to this fact by saying:
James goes for a bit more and misses more. It’s quite simple how you have to play against him.
Federer has never lost to Blake in his entire career and was his seventh straight win over Blake. In all the 7 matches, Blake has managed to win only a single set. This was also his second Cincinnati Masters trophy in 3 years. Federer won his first title in February at Milan in 2001. Another testament to his form is that he won his 40th title in 2006 at a tournament in Toronto. To have won 10 more titles in just over an year and with the US Open and the season ending ATP Masters yet to be played, it indeed is an outstanding achievement.
The nature of this victory puts further pressure on his opponents who effectively look to be battling it out for second place at the moment. It remains to be seen if there is any player who can prove to be even a worthy challenger to Federer on the hard-court and grass-court Grand Slam tournaments. Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic get ready!
Via: BBC
