*Cincinnati, OH – Normally on Sunday afternoon I’d be in church, but this one found me in Cincinnati at the Lindner Family Tennis center watching Novak Djokovic take on Roger Federer for the 2015 Western and Southern Open championship title – and anticipating Serena William’s title defense up directly afterwards. And though it wasn’t quite church, the hats and fans in the crowd – it was HOT out there – made me feel a little bit of that Sunday morning familiarity …
As for the match between Fed and Djoker, both men had something to gain from walking away with the 2015 W&S title. Federer would maintain a perfect record of wining every final he’s played in Cincy and Djokovic would win this particular Master’s 1000 title for the first time.
But it was anybody’s match.
Both men, seeded 1 and 2, were steady throughout the first set with no breaks of serve, making the tiebreak necessary, but Roger seemed the more emotionally composed of the two. They traded mini-breaks in the first few points of the breaker, but Roger secured two more, gaining the momentum and what proved to be an insurmountable lead. The 6-time Cincy champion held 5 set points and snagged the very first one and went up one set to love.
The Suisse favorite started the second set full of confidence and with the crowd firmly on his side, while Djokovic was deflated from losing the first. That setup led to an early break of serve for Federer and two easy holds to quickly put him up 3-0. Unless the Serbian was able to find his inner “Serena,” this one was signed sealed and delivered to Fedfan.
Djoker finally steadied his feet and calmed his nerves and held for 3-1, but it was too little, too late because Federer wasn’t letting up. The no. 2 seed hadn’t faced a break point to that point in the match and had created plenty of break chances against Djokovic’s serve – 8 in the end.
Federer went up 4-1.
Djoker’s next service game became a back and forth battle indicative of his fragility. Roger earned a few break points in that game, but the Serbian kept climbing out of the hole and finally held with an ace.
It was then 4-2, Roger.
The struggling world no.1 managed to push Roger to deuce on his next service game, but was unable to do enough to get the break, then back on serve, he held for 3-5. It was a valiant effort, but Roger was just too steady on the day to lose his serve and just like that, Roger closed it out, 7-6 (1), 6-3 in 1 hour and 30 minutes.
Done and dusted and Roger Federer easily earned his 7th Cincy title and sustained his perfect finals record there.
It was then Serena’s turn to defend her title or succumb to the feisty Romanian, Simona Halep, who’s been close to beating her their last couple of meetings, the world tour finals beat down trade-off notwithstanding.
So, the match started and almost immediately, Serena set the stage for needing to pull a “Serena” and stage a comeback. Her serve was broken immediately, as has been common lately.
Halep then held her own serve with a touch of a struggle for 2-0. Serena then quickly went up 40 love on her next serve, only to allow it to wither to deuce. She managed to hold for 1-2, but she would need to clean up the errors to stay in the match against the spirited Romanian, who held for 3-1.
And she did just that. The WTA world no. 1 awakened, cut on the afterburners and reeled of the next five games. Her ground strokes got stronger and her serve became faster – to the tune of 122mph – and more accurate. She took the first set, 6-3.
It’s amazing to watch the athletic phenom dig deep and commandeer a match she’s losing, but 21 Grand Slam titles don’t come without the “aplomb” she spoke of needing to employ during Saturday’s press conference.
In the 2nd set, Simona held for 1-0 out of the gate. Serena had earned the momentum of the match, however, with the strong first set close, but she almost let it slip by getting down 0-40 in her opening service game of the second. But after a few break points saved by two aces, she held, broke, then went up 2-1 … then let off the gas and was broken for the second time during the match for 2 all.
The defending champion then took the first two points of the Romanian’s next service game, but her feistiness won her the next 4 points and the game giving her the 3-2 lead.
Serena then held for 3 all and gave Halep a mighty challenge in the next game, including doing the splits ala the New York magazine shoot to retrieve a ball, but Halep weathered the threat and held, and Serena did the same for 4 all.
The trade off resulted in a second set tiebreaker and dueling chants from the fans – which Serena’s fans won. The support seemingly gave her that extra boost and “get right church and let’s go home” urgency, again came the afterburners. She took the match and successfully defended her title, 6-3, 7-6 (5).
It wasn’t an easy day at the office, but no matter the challenge, you can almost count on the most feared woman in women’s tennis, Serena Williams, to get the job done.
Next up, the U.S. Open and a chance at securing her first ever calendar Grand Slam.
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