Federer defeats Djokovic for sixth title this year

MASON, Ohio, (Reuters) – World number one Roger Federer underlined his dominant position in the game by securing his sixth ATP title of the year with an impressive 6-0 7-6 win over Novak Djokovic in the Cincinnati Open final yesterday.

Federer’s 21st Masters 1000 title equals Rafa Nadal’s record in the elite series and his win against the Serbian world number two showed he is in optimum form heading into the U.S. Masters later this month.

Federer barely broke sweat in a first set which took just 20 minutes but it was a tighter affair in the second which Federer eventually won 9-7 in the tiebreak.

The tone was set by the first game of the match when Djokovic double faulted to give Federer two break points which he gratefully accepted.

That was the first of four double-faults in the first set and Federer took full advantage of them all to record his first 6-0 set against Djokovic in 28 meetings between the top two ranked players in the world.