Roger Federer won his 22nd straight final on Sunday, beating Andy Roddick 6-3, 7-5 for the Cincinnati Masters title and his ninth overall victory this season.
Federer improved to 10-1 against Roddick, who tried every tactic but still came up short. Federer has won the past six times they’ve met, including the past two Wimbledon finals.
The world’s top-ranked player for the past 81 weeks, Federer heads into the United States Open fit, relaxed and on a roll. He took time off after winning his third straight Wimbledon, looking to recharge and rest a sore foot.
He needed only one week of matches to get back in form.
”Today I got the feeling occasionally that this is great tennis again,” Federer said.
Roddick has a new worry with only one week left before the US Open.
His right foot started bothering him late in the final set, and he needed a timeout before the last game to get treatment. Roddick winced, groaned and covered his face with a towel while a trainer stretched and rubbed the bottom of the foot.
He returned and moved gingerly, getting only two points while Federer broke his serve to close it out. Federer got $400 000 for the win; Roddick earned $200 000 for finishing second.
Roddick isn’t sure whether the foot will be a lingering problem.
”It’s still too early,” Roddick said. ”I’m probably going to take a couple of days off. The thing that makes me a little optimistic is it didn’t happen on one movement. I didn’t hear anything click, I didn’t hear anything snap.”
Federer’s tour dominance is captured by remarkable numbers — a 64-3 match record this season and 138-9 the past two years with 20 titles; 28 straights wins on hard courts; an 18-match winning streak; the seventh-longest uninterrupted stay atop the ATP list.
Perhaps the most amazing: those 22 straight wins in title matches, where he’s always at his best. He was at his best again on Sunday against a player he has bedevilled over the years.
Federer countered Roddick’s serve-and-volley strategy by hitting returns at his feet as he came to the net, leaving him in a bad spot. Roddick double-faulted to lose his serve and fall behind 3-2 in the opening set, and then uttered a profanity as he left the court.
He knew he was in trouble already.
Federer kept the pressure on, making few mistakes and pouncing on every opening. He broke Roddick again to finish out the first set, a bad omen for the American. Roddick had lost only two games on his serve all week; now, he’d lost two in one set.
”I haven’t had an amazing serving day against him,” said Roddick, who had 11 aces and made a sub-par 56% of his first serves. ”I’ve played well against Roger from the base line before, but I haven’t had that monster serving day. That’s what I’m looking for.”
By contrast, Federer won 14 consecutive points off his serve during one stretch. The streak ended when Roddick broke him with a backhand passing shot to go up 3-2 in the second set.
”Then Roger started being Roger again,” Roddick lamented.
An energised Federer broke him right back. In a telling moment, Roddick hit a hard first serve, and Federer shot it back down the line for a forehand winner that set up the break point and put him in line for the victory.
Federer will be an overwhelming favourite at the US Open, where he will be challenged by an eclectic field and growing pressure to keep winning tournaments.
”It’s constant pressure,” Federer said. ”When it’s over, it’s kind of a surprise. You can’t expect to win all the time. If it keeps on going, it’s incredible.”
Roddick hoped that his revamped game would be good enough to end his misery against Federer. Roddick has spent the year developing his game — changing pace on his ground strokes, coming to the net more often and building stamina for long rallies. The tactics worked in a semifinal win over Lleyton Hewitt, another player who had dominated him.
Roddick served 24 aces and left some skin on the court during a two-set win over Hewitt. Roddick came away with nasty scrapes galore — two below the right elbow, another on his right hand, yet another on his knee — from the rough-and-tumble semifinal.
All that got hurt on Sunday was his foot and his pride.
”He’s the one guy that all of us are chasing,” Roddick said. ”He’s the main guy, and then there’s probably four or five of us. Maybe we need to do a tag-team effort or something, join forces.” — Sapa-AP