Federer snaps skid vs. Murray

tennis

MASON (AP) — First Rafael Nadal. Now Andy Murray.

Roger Federer had lost five consecutive matches to Nadal before a straight-set win in the finals at Madrid in May, and on Saturday, the world’s No. 1 player snapped a four-match losing streak against the second-ranked Murray to reach the finals of the Cincinnati Masters.

Federer won 6-2, 7-6 (8) and will face the winner of Saturday’s other semifinal between No. 3 Rafael Nadal and fourth-ranked Novak Djokovic. The top-seeded Federer, who won the tournament in 2005 and 2007, put more emphasis on reaching the finals than on snapping his personal losing streak against Murray, the defending champion.

“It doesn’t matter to me,” said Federer, the winner of a record 15 Grand Slams, including the last two at the French Open and Wimbledon. “I’m past that point. People try to hype it up, but I don’t read anything into it. I know my game’s on, and when my game’s on, I know I can beat any player in the world.”

Federer never faced deuce while serving, keeping Murray on his heels in the first match between the tour’s top two players in the history of the $3 million Western & Southern Financial Group Masters.

“I was just happy that I managed to keep it close in the second set, because I returned poorly and served poorly,” said Murray, who had one set point in the tiebreaker at 8-7 before going wide with a backhand.

“Against Roger, if you do both of those things, it’s going to be very difficult.”

Rogers Cup

TORONTO — Elena Dementieva of Russia advanced to the final of the Rogers Cup with a 7-6 (2), 6-1 win over Serena Williams.

Dementieva, the tournament’s fourth seed, will face either Maria Sharapova and Alisa Kleybanova in Sunday’s championship match.

The second-seeded Williams came into the match as the hottest player in the tournament, but an unreliable serve and a litany of unforced errors were her undoing. The 2001 Rogers Cup champion was broken five times and looked out of rhythm from the start, hitting routine shots long, wide or into the net.

“I can’t say I was especially feeling the fire,” Williams said. “Obviously you want to do well, and I always really want to do well. Honestly, I think I could have and should have won, but I didn’t, so ... it is what it is.”