I was surprised when I heard that top seed Andy Roddick was knocked out early at the Master Series Tournament here in Cincinnati. After hearing about his departure it was pretty much easy money that Federer was going to win another tournament.
Champ dispatches fan-favorite Blake in just 66 minutes
Imagine if Roger Federer had to dust off all his tennis trophies.
Wisely, the world's No. 1 player protects them in the office-sized trophy room of his residence in Oberwil, Switzerland.
"I got that problem solved by having them behind glass," Federer said, "so you don't have to dust them off all the time."
Federer collected a 50th ATP trophy to put behind glass Sunday in a 6-1, 6-4 victory against James Blake that took all of 66 minutes to complete the finals of the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters.
The match displayed the pinnacle of a transformation Federer underwent here in five matches at the Lindner Family Tennis Center.
Federer used up a lot of breath in post-match interviews this week, telling reporters how difficult of a time he was having "reading" the court. Anyone could beat him here, Federer asserted. Lleyton Hewitt, Blake, Nicolas Almagro - they all had Federer shaking in his Nike tennis shoes.
"Look," Federer said Thursday afternoon following a two-set victory, "there's many good players in there who I feel I can lose to at any time."
Right. The 26-year-old has been No. 1 since Feb. 2, 2004, because he can lose to anybody at any time. But he insisted that was how he felt on the court.
"I was playing really worried in the first round this week," Federer said Sunday. "So obviously you're going to come into the press room saying . . . I mean, I won, which is great, but deep down I know I didn't feel good because every point I played I was worried that I was going to lose it."
By Sunday, the Federer who will enter the U.S. Open Aug. 27 as a favorite to win for the fourth straight year emerged here at Center Court in time to frustrate Blake.
With nine aces, 22 winners and a penchant for playing the most important points well, Federer made winning his 14th Masters Series title appear effortless.
"Today I felt I was going to win every point," Federer said. "And that's just a huge change of the . . . mental ability."
Federer was hardly perfect. On Sunday, he committed 13 unforced errors - some of them untimely. But it would have taken a style of tennis more opportunistic than what Blake played to prevent Federer from winning his second W&S Masters title. Blake responded with aggressive returns to Federer's second serves, but the Swiss star converted too well on his first serves to give Blake much optimism for a winning result.
"It might have taken the guy who could match him with serves that could hold easily and put more pressure on him than I did," Blake said. "I don't know. I think a lot of people have tried to say at times that he looks beatable, and then he goes out and shows that he's not beatable."
If there was a signature moment to Sunday's match, it occurred on match point when Federer delivered his first serve into the net. Blake figured to have a good chance to return the second serve. The American guessed wrong, though, and Federer sent a second-serve ace down the middle of the court.
The Blake-friendly crowd of 10,848 - a finals record here - stood and cheered with loud respect for the fifth-youngest player (26 years, 11 days) to achieve 50 ATP titles. The Waterford Crystal trophy will arrive soon after the tournament ships it to Federer's home. And it will be placed among the other 49, dust-free behind glass, affirmative evidence that some weeks Federer really is unbeatable.
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