TENNIS ATP CINCINNATI – David Ferrer had a tough match in the quarterfinal against his countryman Tommy Robredo. So perhaps it was this in mind that led him to so quickly dispatch of Frenchman Julien Benneteau who up until this match was having a great week. Cordell Hackshaw
David Ferrer (6) had a tough match in the quarterfinal against his countryman Tommy Robredo. So perhaps it was this in mind that led him to so quickly dispatch of Frenchman Julien Benneteau who up until this match was having a great week. Benneteau has been playing well all week taking out former top 20 player Jerzy Janowicz and current world’s No. 4 Stan Wawrinka along the way. Benneteau was unable to find anywhere near that level in the semifinal against Ferrer who took him out 6-3 6-2 in 71 minutes.
Benneteau looked up to the challenge in the first couple of games of the match. However, in the 4th game, he had to fight hard to remain on serve as Ferrer was making an early charge. He was able to keep Ferrer honest, saving early an early break point and got to 3-3. Ferrer remained dogged and broke for a 4-3 lead. Ferrer nearly saw this break disappear as Benneteau became very aggressive in an effort to get back on serve. Ferrer held and put the pressure back on Benneteau to serve to stay in the set. Benneteau buckled as he was unable to get a volley past Ferrer who smacked it away for his 11th winner of the set; 6-3 Ferrer.
In the 2nd set, Benneteau could not keep up the resistance as Ferrer was determined to not play a marathon match. Ferrer broke for 3-1 and held comfortably to extend the lead to 4-1. Benneteau was now struggling to win points as he fought hard to hold for 2-4. Ferrer continued to cruise on serve for 5-2 to force Benneteau in a must-hold situation to stay in the match. Benneteau looked to crack under the pressure as he was down triple match points on his serve. He saved all three and then another but the 5th match point was too much for him. Ferrer converted and is through to his first Masters Series 1000 final at the Western & Southern Championships in Cincinnati, 6-3 6-2.
Benneteau had not real answers for the Spaniard on this day despite having a close head-to-head record of 4-5 coming into this match. Ferrer was simply outclassing him in every part of the game. Ferrer was never broken seeing as he got 70% of his 1st serves in and won 75% of those points. He also won an impressive 71% on his 2nd serve. Benneteau on the other hand was only winning 64% on 1st serve and a dismal 32% on 2nd serve. He had 5 double faults compared to none from Ferrer. In the winners to errors ratio, Ferrer was also better with 20 winners to 14 errors whereas Benneteau only had 12 winners with 20 errors. Ferrer will face either Roger Federer (2) or Milos Raonic (5) in the final. Odds are that the Spaniard would much rather face Raonic who he has an 4-0 lifetime record against than Federer who has beaten him in all 15 of their previous encounters.
