Section: Cincinnati

Cincinnati, roger federer, Tennis

Tennis: Roger Federer beats David Ferrer to claim Cincinnati title

World number three Roger Federer won his sixth Cincinnati title with a hard-fought three-sets victory over David Ferrer at the Western & Southern Open.

The 33-year-old Swiss won 6-3 1-6 6-2 to extend his unbeaten run against the 32-year-old Spaniard to 16 matches.

But he was made to work by Ferrer, who was close to handing him his first love set since the 2008 French Open final.

It is the former world number one’s first Masters title since 2012, when he also won in Cincinnati.

Federer broke his opponent eight games in the match and saved four breakpoints on his own serve in the penultimate game before taking the set 6-3.

World number six Ferrer struggled to hold serve in the first game of the second set – saving five breakpoints – but then stunned Federer with a triple break to take the set 6-1.

The third set went with serve until Federer broke in the fourth game to regain momentum at 3-1 up and the Swiss took control from there on in to claim his 80th career title.

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ana ivanovic, Cincinnati, serena williams, Tennis

Tennis: Serena Williams beats Ana Ivanovic to win first Cincinnati title

World number one Serena Williams won her first Cincinnati title with a straight-sets victory over Ana Ivanovic at the Western & Southern Open.

The 32-year-old American fell behind early on but recovered to win 6-4 6-1 in 62 minutes.

It is her first victory at the event in six attempts since 2006.

Williams has now won 62 WTA titles and five in 2014, and she will try for a sixth US Open win when the final Grand Slam of the year begins on 25 August.

There will be £2.4m (US$4m) on offer for Williams should she win the title in New York, having already sealed the £600,000 (US$1m) bonus for winning the US Open series as the best player across the US summer hard-court season.

“It’s just amazing to finally win here,” said Williams. “It was such a great week. She was playing so hard, hitting so many winners.”

She made a slow start to Sunday’s final, just as she had 24 hours earlier in the semi-final against Carolina Wozniacki, but again the 17-time Grand Slam champion wrestled control from her opponent.

Ivanovic, seeded 12th, started confidently off the back of a landmark win over Maria Sharapova in the semis but she could not convert a point for a double-break at 3-1.

Williams slammed the door shut with a big serve and never looked back, taking the set after two consecutive double faults from Ivanovic and rolling through the second set.

It was the American’s third win in four matches against Ivanovic this year, with the Serb having won their contest at the Australian Openin January.

“It’s been a great week for me in Cincinnati,” said Ivanovic. “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!”

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Cincinnati, jelena jankovic, serena williams, Tennis

Tennis: Serena through in Cincinnati

World number one Serena Williams stormed into the semi-finals with a 58-minute thrashing of Jelena Jankovic

Williams, bidding for her first title at the Cincinnati, Ohio hardcourt tournament, romped to a 6-1 6-3 victory over her Serbian opponent.

Williams needed just 25 minutes to claim the first set against Jankovic. She fell behind 2-1 in the second with an early break, but won five of the next six games, closing out the match with back-to-back aces.

“She’s beaten me several times, so I knew today I just had to be focused and do the best I could,” Williams told reporters after claiming her 10th win in 14 matches against Jankovic.

“It didn’t seem fast,” Williams said. “I was just trying my best. And she played some great points. I was just trying to not make many errors, stay focused and do the best that I could.”

The top seed wound up with as many winners as unforced errors at 22-22 while the eighth-eeded Jankovic finished made five winners and 24 unforced errors.

Williams is bidding for a first title in six attempts at Cincinnati. The five previous failures are her second-most attempts at a WTA tournament without winning it. She has played the Sydney event six times without lifting the trophy.

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andy murray, Cincinnati, james ward, joao sousa, julien benneteau, Tennis

Tennis: Andy Murray into Cincinnati last 16 as James Ward goes out

Britain’s Andy Murray progressed to the last 16 of the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati with a 6-3 6-3 win over Portugal’s Joao Sousa.

The number eight seed broke Sousa, 25, in his opening service game and wrapped up victory in an hour and 11 minutes.

Murray, 27, faces American John Isner – last year’s runner-up – in the next round.

British number two James Ward, 27, lost 6-2 6-2 to France’s Julien Benneteau in the second round.

“I got the win and that’s the most important thing,” said Murray, who was beaten by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the Rogers Cup quarter-finals in Toronto last week.

“It’s very different conditions here this week and a lot of the guys are struggling to control the ball, so I was happy to come through. It’s a good start.”

Qualifier Ward, who upset Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the first round, was broken twice in each set by world number 41 Benneteau.

Benneteau faces a last-16 tie with Poland’s Jerzy Janowicz, a 6-4 3-6 6-3 winner over Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov.

Eleventh seed Isner, 29, beat Australian qualifier Marinko Matosevic 6-3 7-6.

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