CINCINNATI – World No 1 Roger Federer underlined his dominance in the tough and demanding game of tennis by securing his sixth ATP title of the year with an impressive 6-0 7-6 win over Novak Djokovic in the Cincinnati Open final on Sunday.

Federer’s 21st Masters 1000 title equals Rafa Nadal’s record in the elite series and his win against the Serbian world No 2 showed he is in optimum form heading into the US Open later this month.

The 31-year-old Swiss held his serve throughout the tournament and did not even face a break point against the world No 2. Federer barely broke sweat in a first set, which took just 20 minutes but it was a tighter affair in the second, which the elegant Federer eventually won 9-7 in the tiebreak.

That was the first of four double-faults from the Serb in the first set and Federer took full advantage of them all to record his first 6-0 set against Djokovic in 28 meetings between the top two ranked players in the world.

It was not all down to the Serb’s mistakes however, Federer producing some glorious groundstrokes along with a thundering serve as he kept Djokovic firmly on the back foot. – Nampa/Reuters