CINCINNATI, 23 August 2005 — World No. 1 Roger Federer won his ninth title of 2005 on Sunday, outgunning American Andy Roddick 6-3, 7-5 to clinch the Cincinnati Masters.
The top-seeded Swiss came from a break down in the second set to take the title, extending his winning streak in finals to 22 and sealing his fourth Masters Series title of the year.
“It’s fantastic,” Federer told the crowd.
“It’s a little bit of a surprise because I hadn’t played since Wimbledon, but I’m really happy to be back and I’m really looking forward to the US Open now.” One break was enough to give Federer the first set and although he was broken in the fifth game of the second, he hit back immediately and repeated the feat in the 12th game.
The 24-year-old, in his first tournament since he won his third consecutive Wimbledon title in July, has now won 18 straight matches since losing to Spaniard Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals of the French Open.
Roddick, who had some treatment to his right foot at 5-6 in the second set, said Federer had been too good.
Clijsters Slams Henin-Hardenne in All-Belgian Final
In Toronto, Kim Clijsters continued her torrid streak on Sunday, capturing the $1.3 million Rogers Cup with a convincing 7-5 6-1 victory over fellow Belgian Justine Henin-Hardenne in the final. It was the second straight tournament win for Clijsters, who has a WTA-leading six titles to her credit this year, and her fifth hardcourt championship success of the season.
“I was seeing the ball really well today,” said Clijsters, one of the favorites for the US Open starting on Aug. 29. “I knew I needed to be aggressive. There was a lot of wind out there, they were not easy conditions.” Erratic Henin-Hardenne hit several balls wide and some into the crowd in the first set, having trouble controlling her shots in the conditions.
The second set belonged to Clijsters, who took a 3-1 lead when Henin-Hardenne double-faulted on break point and did not lose another game from that point.
The final took just one hour and 10 minutes and Clijsters’s total match time was just over four hours for the entire week, thanks to three easy wins and a walk-over.
Both women were encouraged by the Belgian flags in the crowd for the all-Belgium final.
Henin-Hardenne lost for just the third time in her last 32 matches. The 2005 French Open winner just could not get her game in gear after a tough semifinal match in which she defeated France’s Amelie Mauresmo in three sets.
The final was a somewhat anti-climatic end to the tournament from which five of the top eight seeded players withdrew, including Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams.
Fans at the Rexall Center cheered wildly in a thrilling women’s doubles final when 48-year-old Martina Navratilova and Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany rallied to defeat Spaniards Conchita Martinez and Virginia Ruano Pascual 5-7, 6-3, 6-4.
Russian Sharapova Takes Over as No. 1 of Women’s Tennis
In Moscow, Maria Sharapova became the first Russian woman to reach world No. 1 yesterday when she officially replaced injured American Lindsay Davenport at the top of the WTA rankings.
Despite relinquishing her Wimbledon title earlier this year, the 18-year-old Siberian has still won three tournaments so far this season and amassed enough points to topple Davenport and fulfil her life-long dream.
However, while Sharapova’s good looks and determination have earned the Florida-based Russian million-dollar endorsements and made her a global phenomenon, she remains something of an enigma back home.
Most Russians still perceive her as made-in-America rather than a home-grown heroine.
Sharapova’s foreign upbringing and reluctance to represent Russia in competition or even visit her native land have also contributed to her isolation.
At the age of nine, she left her mother in Russia and went to the United States with her father Yuri to pursue her dream.
She has repeatedly turned down offers to play for Russia in the Fed Cup, saying her main goal this year was to become world No. 1 rather than help her country win the most prestigious team competition. Fellow top Russian players, such as Svetlana Kuznetsova and Anastasia Myskina, have not embraced Sharapova as one of their own, giving her the cold shoulder in comments to the press.
Last year, Sharapova was involved in a well-publicized feud with Myskina when the former French Open champion accused the new number one’s father of being disrespectful to her during the season-ending WTA Tour Championships. At last year’s Fed Cup finals in Moscow, Myskina said that she would stop playing for Russia if Sharapova was invited to join the team next year.
When asked who was the most popular Russian player worldwide, she said with a wry grin: “Sharapova of course — but I don’t know if you would call her Russian though. She is more American then Russian. She speaks Russian with a coarse accent.” Russia Fed Cup captain Shamil Tarpishchev has tried to play down the rift between his players but people close to the team say the divide is much deeper than it seems at first glance.
“They (the players) are just jealous of Sharapova,” a source within the Russian Tennis Federation told Reuters last November. “They resent her sudden fame and fortune.” Little has changed since. Sharapova, who regularly plays smaller tournaments in Asia, Europe and Australia, has been noticeably absent from the $1.3 million Kremlin Cup for the last few years.
