Fed sets up Djokovic final

After a week of play in the 56-man field, it all comes down to World No. 1 Novak Djokovic versus No. 3 Roger Federer in Sunday’s 1 p.m. title match at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason.

Both players had held serve for the better part of the first set, as the Scot, with his brother Jamie watching on, took the score up to 4-3 at one stage.

It was also the fifth successive victory for Federer over the Brit and he has now taken 10 consecutive sets against the 28-year-old as his grip over the Scot extends further.

Roger Federer defeated Andy Murray in straight sets, 6-4 7-6, and with straightforward command to reach the final of the ATP 1000 Masters Series event in Cincinnati last night.

Having come by way of a marathon towards Grigor Dimitrov, Murray needed to deal with the warmth and going a set right down to Gasquet on centre courtroom, however then pulled out a half-hour second set to get the gang going.

Earlier in the tournament, Romanian third seed Simona Halep beat Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic 7-5 5-7 6-4 while Czech seventh seed Lucie Safarova advanced with a 6-4 7-5 win over American wild card Coco Vandeweghe.

Federer now has a 13-11 head-to-head advantage over Andy Murray (via Match Stats), winning their last four matches – including their recent semis clash at the Wimbledon Open. I’m pleased with how I’m playing.

Federer eased past the challenge of Feliciano Lopez with few issues and it’s his smooth progress, combined with likely fatigue on the part of Murray, that has seen the Swiss priced-up at around the [1.6] mark today. “I started slowly the last couple of days”. It was a tough point at 4-all, I believe.

Hell face Federer, a six-time champion who has never lost a Cincinnati title match.

Wawrinka denied Djokovic a chance to complete a career grand slam in Paris but was wayward in Cincinnati, finishing with 33 unforced errors and pushing a backhand wide on match point.

Its his first tournament since he beat Murray in straight sets at Wimbledon before losing to Djokovic in the finals. With a ranking of about 39th expected for Monday, he appears likely to enter the US Open unseeded – a circumstance that makes his placement in the draw interesting to watch out for. I have more responsibility, and I have to adjust to that.

The weather shouldn’t play much of a part, with it forecast to be around 27C and sunny when they’re due on court, with little wind, and if anything one would expect the higher on-court temperature to cause Murray to fatigue even more. Her quarterfinals opponent is Ana Ivanovic, who beat Sloane Stephens 2-6, 6-4, 6-1. “I was hoping that a lot of (therapy) would help, but I couldn’t do it”.