Roger Federer has won his 80th career tennis title and sixth at the Cincinnati Masters, beating David Ferrer 6-3 1-6 6-2 to earn himself the favourites tag ahead of US Open.
The 33 year old world number three now goes into the final Grand Slam of the year in New York next week as a legitimate threat after reaching the final last week in Toronto and claiming his 16th win without a loss against Ferrer over an 11-year span.
It's Federer's biggest title win since the same tournament in 2012, having won Wimbledon earlier that year.
In the women's draw world number one Serena Williams finished her U.S. Open tune-up in style by blowing away Serbian Ana Ivanovic in straight sets to win her first Cincinnati WTA title.
For the top-seeded American, the win marked her first in six visits to the Ohio city and sent a message that she is in top form heading into the year's final grand slam, where she is the two-time defending champion.
After falling behind early, Williams broke her ninth seeded opponent's serve in the sixth game of the first set to pull even and then broke again four games later to wrap up the opener in 38 minutes.
A year removed from losing the Cincinnati final in a third set tiebreak to Victoria Azarenka, the 32-year-old left nothing to chance in a dominant second set.
Williams broke Ivanovic to open a 3-1 lead and then relied on her powerful serve to carry her the rest of the way, finishing the 62-minute match with 12 aces.
It marked the fifth title of the year for the American following wins in Stanford, Rome, Miami and Brisbane.
The Cincinnati tournament is the last of the key tune-ups ahead of the U.S. Open in New York, which starts in just over a week.
