Been a while since my last post, but here is the review of the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati, the last Master 1000 tournament before the US Open. 

Before the tournament started, I expected Roger to be fit and fired up for Cincinnati, as he withdrew from Toronto to get an extra week rest. The courts at Cincy are some of the fastest on the tour and we know Roger is probably the best fast hardcourt player of all time so everyone had high expectations for him. Historically he has played very well at Cincy, winning the title previously in 2005, 07, 09 and 10. There was also some pressure from Djokovic as well, who had a chance of snatching back the No.1 ranking. Roger also had to adapt from the grasscourts at Wimbledon to the DecoTurf surface at Cincinnati, whereas Djokovic had already played a full week of matches in Toronto, beating a lackluster Gasquet in the final. 

Roger's first opponent was Alex Bogomolov Jr of Russia. It was a total cruise match for Roger, winning 6-3 6-2 in one hour. It was good to see Roger attacking and serving well, only facing one break point which was in the last game of the match. 

In the 3rd round, Roger played Bernard Tomic of Australia and crushed him 6-2 6-4 in a dominant performance. I must say, I was disappointed with the lack of fight Tomic gave in the match. Every since their encounter in the Australian Open this year when Roger dispatched Tomic in straight sets in an entertaining match, Tomic has not been displaying enough effort in his matches and the 2nd and 1st Rd losses in Roland Garros and Wimbledon clearly shows his laziness. He was way too far behind the baseline and only managed 12 winners to Roger's 27. 

Roger's quarterfinal opponent was American Mardy Fish who actually played Roger in the final of Cincinnati back in 2010 and lost a close match. But Fish was clearly not in the same great form as he was two years ago so I wasn't expecting him to take a set off Roger. Roger started the match in great fashion, breaking Fish immediately with a few sweet shots. Half an hour later, Roger broke Fish again with an awesome backhand return winner to take the first set 6-3. Fish recovered from sluggish start in the second set and was throwing everything he could at Roger's service games, but all to no avail. The set went into a tiebreak and Roger won it easily 7-4, booking a spot in the semis.

Roger faced surprise semifinalist Stanislas Wawrinka who upset big server Milos Raonic in a close three set contest. Wawrinka hasn't really been playing well for a long time, but I predicted that there will be at least a 7-5/6 set and my prediction was true - Roger overcame Wawrinka 7-6(4) 6-3. The first set was very close, both players had their own chances to win the set, however Roger prevailed in the tiebreaker 7 points to 4. Wawrinka was obviously disappointed to lose the first set, it was enough to buckle his confidence in the second set and Roger won it 6-3 to be assured of staying No.1 regardless of the result in his match with Djokovic in the final.

Everyone was highly anticipating the clash between Roger and Djokovic in the final, both players hadn't been broken in any of their matches in the tournament. However Djokovic had a mediocre start and was broken immediately by Roger in the first game of the match. Roger started extremely well, he was controlling the rallies and playing first strike tennis to bagel Djokovic in the first set - we were watching a vintage Federer display. A lot of people think Djokovic gave up during the first set but that wasn't true, Roger just fed him a tasty Swiss bagel. 

                                            
The Roger's stats for the first are complete domination. 1st serve was very accurate and he didn't even lost a point on his second serve. That's nearly impossible against Djokovic, who is one of the best returners of the tour currently. It was also pleasing to see Roger's attacking net play, along with converting 75% of his break points which is something that he doesn't often do against Djokovic.

Djokovic raised his game in the second set which was no big surprise, he started to return and rally better, it was the notification to Roger that he had something to worry about. Both players managed to hold serve, not facing any break points. In the tiebreaker, Roger raced to a 3-0 lead before Djokovic fought back to lead 4-3. A big serve gave Roger match point at 5-5, but Djokovic saved it with big forehands. It was a flashback to the two US Open semifinals in 2010 and 2011 where Djokovic saved 4 match points in total, three of them saved with crushing forehands. A super long rally at 6-6 led to Roger eventually hitting a backhand long, but he saved the set point with a smash winner. Roger then hit two forehand winners in a row to claim a record 5th Cincinnati title and his 21st Master 1000. Amazing to think also that he never lost serve all week. That's the first time its happened in the Open era. It also increased his lead over Djokovic in the rankings and that he will exit the US Open in No.1 no matter what happens. 

All week, Roger was invincible and he is now the favourite for the US Open which starts on Monday. Nadal withdrew because of his knee injury, that's the third time he's withdrawn from a Grand Slam, absolutely disgraceful! Winning Cincinnati was a great boost for Roger, it gives him a bucket load of confidence coming into the US Open. Go for No.18 Roger!