The No 1 tennis ace
Djokovic beats jinx – and Federer – to claim title
Novak Djokovic ended a career-long jinx, lifting the trophy in Cincinnati at last to complete a matched set of Masters 1,000 titles.
Djokovic, who came up empty in five prior Cincinnati finals, defeated seven-time winner Roger Federer 6-4 6-4 in the final.
The former world number one became the first man to win all nine of the ATP’s Masters 1,000 events in the elite series’ current configuration.
Federer, meanwhile, lost a final in the hardcourt US Open tune-up for the first time.
“I played five finals [here] before, and most of those finals I lost to this great man, Roger
. . . thank you for letting me win here once in Cincinnati,” Djokovic joked.
“This is a dream come true,” Djokovic said. “I finally won Cincinnati after six finals, some against the greatest ever, Roger.”
Federer, a 20-time Grand Slam winner, said his game was not sharp – but he did not want to take anything away from Djokovic’s achievement.
“Novak is a great champion,” Federer said. “This is about him making history.”
Federer’s streak of 100 straight unbroken service games in Cincinnati was ended by Djokovic in the seventh game of the first set.
The 37-year-old Swiss had been aiming for a 99th career trophy, but was unable to get over the line due in part to four double-faults at the most inopportune of times, but he said his return game was also lacking.
“It was definitely not my best day on the return – it was just awful,” Federer said.
“But I don’t even want to look for reasons why it happened,” he said. “Novak totally deserved to win today.”
Djokovic claimed the opening set in 37 minutes and came back from an early break in the second to overhaul his longtime rival as they played for the 46th time.
The Serb now leads Federer 24-22 and has won their last three encounters.
The pair had not played since the 2016 Australian Open semifinals more than two and a half years ago.
Djokovic claimed his Masters record on his first match point and now heads to the US Open as a title favourite after a string of sub-par seasons and an elbow injury which required surgery. – AFP