Roger Federer and David Ferrer will face off in the Cincinnati final today after comfortable wins in their semi-final matches. David Ferrer was up first at the Western and Southern Open and beat 41st ranked Julien Benneteau 6-3, 6-2. Federer followed, and dismissed fifth seeded Milos Raonic 6-2, 6-3.
Ferrer put on a five star returning performance in his victory. The Spaniard won 47 percent of his return points, created ten break points and won four of them. And that was against a quality server making 67 percent of his first serves. Ferrer also served well, getting 70 percent of his first serves in and winning 75 percent of points behind that shot.
Ferrer will appear in his seventh ATP 1000 final, and his first in Cincinnati. Roger Federer, meanwhile, will be in his 38th ATP 1000 final, and has won the Cincinnati event five times. He showed his class at the event up against Raonic. serving at 63 percent, winning 88 percent of his first serve deliveries and winning 50 percent of points on the Raonic second serve. Unfortunately for the Canadian, he was only able to get in 44 percent of his first serves, which against Roger Federer on one of his favorite courts, is not good enough.
The meeting between Federer and Ferrer comes a week after their tightly contested quarter-final in Toronto which Federer won 63, 4-6, 6-3. That tough battle should give Ferrrer some hope in what will be the 16th match between the two, a match up in which Ferrer has yet to grab a victory.
Although Federer’s record at the event, and his great 2014 form which has seen him reach seven finals this year, might seem ominous for Ferrer, the Spanaird can take heart in the fact Federer has lost five of those finals, and three of them against players against whom he has leading head to heads.
Commentary by Christian Deverille
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