Roger Federer has moved into position for his sixth Western and Southern Open title as the second-seeded Swiss turned back fifth-seeded Milos Raonic 6-2, 6-3 in the semi-final on Saturday.
Federer will play sixth-seeded David Ferrer, a 6-3, 6-2 winner over Julien Benneteau in the first semi-final.
Despite winning his first two service games at love and jumping out to a 4-1 lead, Federer wasn't trying to shorten the match because of its late start - after Ivanovic and Sharapova went 2 hours and 45 minutes before the former completed an upset win.
"I play the same speed at all times," Federer said. "If you start hurrying, then you might get broken. I'm happy with the win. I know Milos can cause difficulties with his game. It's unpredictable. He plays on his terms."
Ferrer suspected Benneteau, who upset third-seeded Stan Wawrinka in the quarter-finals, might've been nervous about playing in his first ATP Masters 1000 semi-final.
But the Spaniard, who has reached at least the quarter-finals of all four tournaments he has played since crashing out of Wimbledon in the second round, needed just 71 minutes to earn his sixth victory in 10 meetings with Benneteau.
The 32-year-old Spaniard, playing in his first semi-final in 11 trips to Cincinnati, saved the one break point he faced and did not double-fault all match long against Benneteau who was coming off a surprise win over third seed Stanislas Wawrinka.
"He [had] a very good week - a very great week - but today, maybe he [made] a little bit mistakes," said Ferrer, who was playing in his 15th Masters semi-final. "[This] was his first semi-final in one Master 1000. Maybe experience was the key in those moments, no?"
Comments
0 comment