Federer to Face Roddick in Final
CINCINNATI - Top seeded Roger Federer reached his fourth ATP Masters Series final of the year edging Robby Ginepri 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 on center court Saturday in one hour, 48 minutes.
The match was decided in three crucial late-set breaks with Ginepri breaking at 4-4 in the first set, and Federer breaking while up 6-5 and then 5-4 in the second and third sets, respectively.
Federer improved to 28-1 in ATP Masters Series events this year with his only loss coming to Frenchman Richard Gasquet in the quarterfinals at Monte-Carlo. He also extended his consecutive win streak to 17 matches.
Federer takes a 37-1 2005 hardcourt record into his first career final in Cincinnati. His last loss on a hardcourt came back in January to Marat Safin at the Australian Open semifinals.
© Rita May
Andy Roddick
He meets Andy Roddick in Sunday's final -- a rematch of the 2005 Wimbledon Championships. He has defeated Roddick all four times they played in a final and is 9-1 overall against him.
Roddick defeated Lleyton Hewitt for the second time in their careers on Saturday night 6-4, 7-6(4) in one hour, 37 minutes.
He advanced to his second final in Cincinnati, having won the title in 2003 and improved to 18-4 here.
Second seeds Jonas Bjorkman/Max Mirnyi teamed up to defeat No. 3 seeds and defending champions Mark Knowles/Daniel Nestor 6-3, 6-4 in doubles.
Bjorkman/Mirnyi, who won the Roland Garros doubles championship this year, can pull ahead of the Bob and Mike Bryan in the ATP Doubles race if they win tomorrow's final against Wayne Black/Kevin Ullyett, winners of the ATP Masters Series in Montreal last week.
WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID:
Federer: Well, I'm not overconfident, very confident. I just know what I have to do. I know my game's in place now. Once I win a certain amount of matches, my level of play, I know what I can do, what I can't do. And so I play the percentages I think extremely well in finals, and on big points usually I'm ‑‑ well, I've been unbeatable, you know, so that's always what I'm looking for.
Somehow, you know, when the nerves are even bigger, you know, somehow it seems like I can even play better because that can also backfire very quickly, you know, and things turn around.
Roddick: You know, obviously I want lots of ‑‑ I want a shot at him [Federer], you know. Maybe, you know, I can turn the momentum in the series with one win; you never know what happens. And I just want to keep trying. I want to measure myself against the best, and he's the best right now.
And, two, if I'm playing him, it normally means we're pretty far along in the tournament. So that's a good thing as well.
