By Chris Oddo

(August 19, 2012)—Roger Federer won his fifth Cincinnati Masters title today in fine fashion, 6-0, 7-6(7) over Novak Djokovic, strengthening his grip on the ATP’s No. 1 ranking and etching his name boldly in the pages of tennis’s record books once again.

Federer becomes the first player in the Open Era to have won in Cincinnati five times, and he did it against a player who was playing scintillating tennis on the surface he prefers the most.

"This was very sweet.  No doubt about it," said a clearly satisfied Federer. It was Federer's first title as a 31-year-old, but it looked similar to so many of the 17-time Grand Slam champion's command performances: one-sided, intense, and surprisingly sweet at the finish.

In the first Cincinnati final between No. 1 and No. 2-ranked players in Open Era history (Sunday's final was the second between Federer and Djokovic at Cincinnati. Federer defeated the Serb in straight sets in 2009.), Federer raced out to an early lead, breaking Djokovic to start the match, then continuing his torrid play as he raced to a one-set lead that took only 20 minutes.

"I was hoping for a good start, but not like that," said Federer. "I'll take it."

It was the first bagel that either player has earned against the other in twenty-eight meetings.
What was truly amazing was that Djokovic had saved 38 of his last 39 break points entering Sunday’s final, but he surrendered three of four against Federer in the first set. Djokovic won only one of ten second serve points, and tossed in four double-faults to make Federer’s job easier.

Djokovic stepped his game up in the second set and neither he nor Federer faced a break point en route to a tiebreaker. In the breaker, Djokovic actually saved a match point and had a set point at 7-6 before Federer won the final three points to close the affair in one hour and twenty minutes.

"Novak did a good job staying with it, starting to raise his game even though things weren't going well for him," said Federer.  "He also had a couple tough situations to come through, which he did well."

The loss ends Djokovic’s 15-match hard-court winning streak and it also places Roger Federer back into a tie with Rafael Nadal with 21 Masters titles.

In seven previous finals, Federer has now won four against his Serbian rival.

Federer, the second-oldest player to ever hold the No. 1 ranking, did not drop serve all week.

Djokovic, who won the Toronto title last week, was bidding to become only the fourth player in the Open Era to win Canada and Cincinnati back-to-back.

(Photo Credit: AFP/ Nick Laham)