Federer Sets Up Final Clash With Djokovic in Cincinnati

Hey all, just a quick post on the Federer/Wawrinka match and a quick look at the final tonight between Djokovic and Fed. The best news is that by making the final Roger has ensured he heads into the US Open still ranked the number 1 player in the world. That doesn’t make a whole lot of difference for the draw but I’m sure it’s a great confidence boost to be in the draw as the number 1 seed.

Anyway back to last nights match against Stan, compared to the Fish quarter final match this one never really got going. There were some nice points but nothing really exciting happened, there weren’t many rallies and Roger wasn’t playing at his best.

First Set – Destination Tie Break

The first set to me seemed to last forever. After Wawrinka won the toss and elected to receive (a strange play) I actually thought Fed was just going to steamroll him but he probably should have won the first set. He played the better of the two, was serving better and looked like he wasn’t really under any pressure. Unlike against Fish, Roger’s serve wasn’t firing and he served 4 double faults in the first set, that’s a crazy number at this level. As usual though Roger just hung in there, kept calm and despite wasting a ton of set points at 5-4 took the tie break 7-4.

Winning the breaker was definitely a boost for Roger as he did waste a ton of chances at 5-4. I think he had 7 break points in the set and when Roger hit a backhand chip up the line to get advantage again at 5-4 I figured he would just take the set but on the next point Stan stopped a rally and challenged. Luckily he was right, looking back it was a brave challenge that paid off but at the time I thought that was near suicide.

Luckily for Fed, he didn’t let any missed chances play on his mind and he got a mini break early in the breaker and pulled away to take the first set. If you were Wawrinka at this point I think you’d be pretty annoyed as considering how well he played for three quarters of the set he really should have probably won it or at the very least put up more of a fight in the breaker.

Set Two – Wawrinka’s Resistance Disappears

If you thought the first set wasn’t the greatest then the second was arguably worse. Roger did manage to up his level just a notch and serve better but Stan’s resistance came to an end. He was still going for his shots but the errors crept in and Roger was able pretty much cruise though. He broke at 3-3 after he saved BP on his own serve in the previous game and then broke again to take it 6-3. Game, set, match 7-6(4) 6-3.

From Stans perspective I think he will be disappointed to almost give up the match after he played a good first set. The fans noticed this too I think as the atmosphere felt a little flat and nothing compared to the Fish match, this probably effected Roger too as he didn’t really look that into the match, he was still playing well but there was nothing really to get him going or fired up and you almost felt like the match just needed putting to bed which he did comfortably enough in the end. So overall I’d say a good match to win because it meant he kept number 1, but a poor match from the fans perspective.

Federer vs. Wawrinka Highlights

Post Match Interview, Discusses The Final with Djokovic

Love these interviews in the studio/outdoor terrace after a match, great for the fans in the grounds and great for the fans across the world to see this kinda stuff.

Video removed 🙁

Predictions vs. Djokovic

I give Djokovic the edge in this one purely because he’s been the most dominant outdoor hard court player for the last couple of years. He’s coming off the back of a good win in Toronto after some tough losses at Wimbledon and the Olympics so I think he will be up for winning this one ahead of the US Open.

Having said that Djokovic has never won in Cincinnati before and is actually a 3 time losing finalist. As we all know Roger has won 4 titles (beating Djoker in 2009) so he always manages to play well here and that could be the difference.

Whatever happens I think this one will probably be a close one, if Roger wins then I think he might blitz the first set and then either win the second on a breaker, or it will end up going to 3. For Fed to win I think he has to win the first set and then he has a platform to build on. To be honest I’m not going to be too disappointed either way by the result, this tournament is a tune up for the US Open and Fed has secured number one by the end of the tournament will have got 5 solid hard court matches under his belt which is ideal preparation.

Prediction, if Roger wins the first set he’ll win the match 6-2, 7-6 (5). If Djoker gets out the blocks fast I think he will take it 6-4 7-5. Either way it should be a fun match and that’s all I want.