Serena Williams finally captured her first Western & Southern Open title on Sunday, beating Ana Ivanovic 6-4 6-1 to win the tournament for the first time in six tries. Cincinnati was becoming one of the most elusive WTA events to Williams' trophy cabinet - she had never won here in five previous tries, second-most to Sydney, where she has never won in six previous tries. But it turned out to be sixth time lucky for the World No.1 at the Premier-level event.
Beaten finalist Ana Ivanovic said during the on-court trophy ceremony: "It's been a great week for me in Cincinnati," Ivanovic said. "I really want to congratulate Serena. I think I got a lesson on how to serve today. Maybe after you retire you can give me some tips!"
Serena also had some humbling words: "Congratulations to Ana - she's such a great champion and such a wonderful, wonderful young lady," Williams commented. "It's so good to see wonderful women like her leading our tour right now.
"It's just amazing to finally win here. The fans were amazing and it's so wonderful to be here."
Williams won her fifth WTA title of the year - no one else has more than three - and 62nd WTA title of her career. She's still No.7 on the all-time list, but only five short of No.6, Billie Jean King, who has 67.
Unlike Serena, Roger Federer laid his hands on the Cincinnati crown for the sixth time of his career by defeating David Ferrer 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 in the first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final to feature two players over the age of 30.
Federer, 33, improved to a perfect 6-0 in Cincinnati finals and to a 16-0 FedEx ATP Head2Head record against the 32-year-old Ferrer. He snapped a four-match losing streak in Masters 1000 finals, including a runner-up finish last week at the Rogers Cup in Toronto (l. to Tsonga), to claim his 22nd crown at this level.
"It feels great," said Federer in an on-court interview with ESPN's Brad Gilbert. "I really enjoy playing here. I've played some really good tennis here over the years, so it's really nice to come back and win it again.
"I thought the final was good. The whole tournament was really good for me. I've been beating Top 10 [players] along the way and just enjoying myself out on court, playing some positive tennis, so it's really encouraging."
The Swiss lifted his third trophy from seven finals this season, adding to his victories in Dubai and Halle, and joined Jimmy Connors (109) and Ivan Lendl (94) as players to clinch 80 or more titles in the Open Era.
In his opening match against Vasek Pospisil earlier this week, Federer made history as the first player to win 300 matches at the Masters 1000 level. His 22 Masters 1000 titles is second to Rafael Nadal’s 27 in the leaders list.
With his final showings in both Toronto and Cincinnati, Federer strengthened his place at No. 2 in the Emirates Airline Bonus Challenge standings, behind Canadian Milos Raonic. He will next head to New York for the US Open, where he will compete for an Open Era-record sixth title.
Ferrer was attempting to win his second ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title and 22nd overall. He had recorded his 150th match win in Masters 1000 action after saving two match points in his second-round match against Philipp Kohlschreiber on Wednesday.
Roger is back!
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