Djokovic beats Federer to win Cincinnati, creates history

Novak Djokovic produced an impressive display on Sunday to dismantle Roger Federer for the Cincinnati title, the one ATP Masters crown missing from his collection.

Playing in his sixth final in Cincinnati, Djokovic finally claimed his first trophy with a 6-4 6-4 win over the Swiss.

He becomes the first player to own all nine ATP Masters 1000 titles.

It was a commanding display, with the Serb superior on serve and from the back of the court while playing far cleaner tennis, committing just 16 unforced errors to Federer’s 39.

Pure GOLD ????

The moment @DjokerNole became the first ever winner of the Career Golden Masters. #CincyTennis pic.twitter.com/27n8EAOCxj

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) August 19, 2018

“It’s obviously a very special moment, it’s the first time that I get to stand here with the winning trophy in Cincinnati. Played five finals before, and most of those finals I lost to this great man, Roger … thank you for letting me win here once in Cincinnati,” Djokovic laughed during the trophy ceremony.

“I went through a little bit of a roller-coaster ride in my career with injury and taking time off and having the surgery earlier this year, so this seems a bit unreal, to be honest, to be back at this level and winning Wimbledon and Cincinnati for the first time.”

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From the outset Djokovic was the sharper player, earning two break points in the very first game to put Federer under immediate pressure.

The No.2 seed held serve but was broken in the seventh game; incredibly, it was the first time he had dropped serve in Cincinnati since 2014.

. @rogerfederer has now held serve 100 consecutive times in Cincinnati. Last broken by David Ferrer in 2nd set of 2014 final#CincyTennis

— Steph Trudel (@TrudelSteph) August 19, 2018

Djokovic snaps Federer's phenomenal streak of 100 straight service-game holds in Cincinnati. Up early in this long-awaited duel

— Christopher Clarey (@christophclarey) August 19, 2018

It was Djokovic’s incredible defence that was frequently forcing Federer to go for too much and the seven-time Cincinnati champion was not enjoying it, receiving a warning for an audible obscenity after dropping serve.

With the break in hand, Djokovic motored ahead and took the first set, only to drop serve to fall behind 2-0 in the second.

He broke back immediately but then received a time violation at the start of the fourth game, prompting a tense exchange with the chair umpire.

Yet neither the service break nor the time violation would rattle Djokovic, who played the majority of the match with an aura of calm and purpose.

Federer moved ahead 40-0 in the seventh game but it was here that the 10th seed made his move, recovering to deuce by consistently putting the ball in awkward positions.

Baseline points won so far.
Djokovic 34
Federer 17

— Nick Lester (@nicklester) August 19, 2018

Because he was losing the bulk of baseline rallies, Federer had resorted to serving and volleying but found that wasn’t really working either, finishing the match with a 14/24 record at net.

Djokovic eventually whipped a winning forehand passing shot down the line to score another break, and consolidated it to move ahead 5-3 when Federer poked a forehand dropshot wide.

Two games later, he served out the match to win in a brisk 84 minutes.

In a rivalry spanning 12 years, Djokovic extended his narrow head-to-head lead to 24-22. He has won seven of the last nine encounters.

“Congratulations, Novak, on writing history today,” Federer said during his acceptance speech.

“Amazing effort, not just this week, not just today, but your whole career. To get to this point is an amazing achievement. You should be very proud. Well done.”