CINCINNATI - World tennis No 1 Roger Federer raced to a 6-1 6-4 victory over American James Blake today to win the Cincinnati Masters and claim his 50th career singles title.
The Swiss broke the American twice in the opening set and once in the second to wrapup his 14th Masters Series title in 65 minutes.
"I struggled for a lot of the week and was maybe a little lucky yesterday beating (Lleyton) Hewitt in a third-set tiebreak," he said.
"The scoreboard might not show it but today I definitely had to play my best to win. It was a great week for me and I'm now really excited about the US Open."
Ninth seed Blake gifted the top seed the break in the second game and, though he forced three break points in the fifth game, that was as close as he came in the opening set.
Federer snatched the vital break in the seventh game and after saving two break points in the next game, he served out for victory two games later, clinching victory with his ninth ace.
Blake, who was appearing in his second Masters Series final, said Federer had simply been too good.
"From the start here I felt great," said the American, who has now lost all seven of his matches with Federer.
"Everything felt great until I ran into Roger, but that seems to happen to everyone a lot. Fifty titles is pretty good at what, 26. That's not bad."
Half of Federer's 50 titles have been grand slam wins (11) or Masters Series titles, while he has also won three Masters Cups.
His total of 14 Masters Series titles is just three short of the record held by American Andre Agassi.
