Federer, Serena triumph

Mason: Roger Federer won an unprecedented sixth championship in Cincinnati, overcoming one bad set while the resurgent Serena Williams dominated all through the match to win her first title.

Federer extended his record of finals beating David Ferrer 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 in the Western & Southern Open on Sunday. It ended a bit of a slump for Federer, who finally got the large winner’s trophy after losing his last four Masters title rounds. He was the runner-up to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in Toronto a week earlier. “I’ve been bringing home some smaller ones,” Federer said. “I’m happy to get the big one.”

Meanwhile, Serena finally got the one that had always slipped away. And she did it so convincingly that she came away thinking another title could be coming soon. Serena needed only 62 minutes to beat Ana Ivanovic 6-4, 6-1 for a personal breakthrough. She’d never even reached the finals in Cincinnati until last year, when she fell apart and lost to Victoria Azarenka on a third-set tiebreaker.

“Definitely my best performance of the summer,” she said. “Hopefully not the last. This is definitely a level that can take me to the (U.S. Open) title. I still have a lot of work to do. It’s definitely a better level than I’ve played all year, to be honest.” The only other event that Williams has played six times without a title is Sydney. She finally got her win in Cincinnati with the help of a good matchup. Serena is 7-1 in her career against Ivanovic, with the only loss coming at the Australian Open this year.