Mason, OH – Roger Federer prevailed in a battle between the world's top two ranked players, posting a 6-0, 7-6 (9-7) victory over Novak Djokovic in Sunday's final at the $2.825 million Western & Southern Open.
The top-seeded Federer fired eight aces on his way to becoming the first five- time winner in the Open Era at this event. He also titled here in 2005, 2007, 2009 and 2010.
Djokovic, on the other hand, lost in the final for the fourth time in five years. A sore shoulder forced him to quit in the Cincinnati final last year, giving the title to Andy Murray.
After the opening set lasted a mere 20 minutes, Djokovic battled back to force a tiebreak in a much more competitive second set. The second-seeded Serb went up 7-6, but an overhead smash by Federer evened the tiebreak. Federer then closed out the match with consecutive forehand winners.
Djokovic, who committed four of his five double faults in the sluggish first set, had his hard court winning streak snapped at 15 matches and was fresh off winning the Rogers Cup in Toronto last Sunday night.
Federer, meanwhile, rebounded nicely from losing in straight sets to Murray in the gold medal match at the London Olympics two weeks ago. He did not drop a set in the tournament and went the entire week without having his serve broken. On Sunday, he didn't face a single break point.
The Swiss star captured his sixth title of the year and 76th of his illustrious career. He also tied Rafael Nadal for the most ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles with 21.
Sunday's triumph improved Federer's career record against Djokovic to 16-12, including a 4-3 mark in title matches.
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