Murray sets up revenge chance against Federer at Western & Southern Open

Novak Dkojovic and Serena Williams reached the semifinals in Cincinnati, taking different ways to get there.

World number one Novak Djokovic will be aiming for a slice of ATP history on Sunday when he takes on six-time champion Roger Federer in the ATP Cincinnati Masters final.

The American will meet Karin Knapp in the third round after the Italian advanced with a 6-4 6-1 win over Russia’s Daria Gavrilova. To hold her game together, it seems she often suffers on the court, near tears at times, especially in matches that matter.

Djokovic – 55-4 this season – has won Masters titles in Indians Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo, Madrid, Rome, Montreal/Toronto, Shanghai and Paris, with Cincinnati the only tournament proving illusive.

A right forearm injury forced Swiss teen Belinda Bencic to withdraw from the Western & Southern Open after she dropped the first set against seventh-seeded Lucie Safarova 6-2 in the round of 16 on Thursday.

The world no. 1 wasn’t troubled at all in the opening set, even as Wawrinka struggled to get his first serves in. She beat 14th-seeded Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-3.

“I have to make sure I have nothing serious”, she said.

The start of the day’s matches was delayed 35 minutes because of rain, which fell again shortly after Williams completed her win. I’m pleased with how I’m playing.

French Open champion Wawrinka said he had yet to receive an apology from Nick Kyrgios for the Australian’s incendiary comment during their match last week. Djokovic won 59 points out of 103 while his rival won 44 of total 103 points. In spite of winning 91 percent of first serve points, Wawrinka was only hitting 38 percent of first serves in. I did that very well tonight, so I am really pleased it was a rock solid performance. Despite that though, an error-filled final two games from the Swiss halted any chance at a comeback as Djokovic took this match 6-4, 6-1.

“I think maybe I’m a little bit empty mentally to stay at my top”, Wawrinka said. “I’ve been playing well and I’m looking forward to my next one”.

“I’m just happy I managed to fight through a lot of tough matches, hard situations, and hopefully that will stand me in good stead for the US Open“. He’s the first qualifier to reach the semifinals in Cincinnati since 1994.

Murray played a lot of long, draining matches during the last week.

Fifth and sixth games of the second set were well contested.