CINCINNATI, August 18, 2018

Seven-time champion Roger Federer and five-time runner-up Novak Djokovic would meet for the fourth time in the Western & Southern Open final if they both win on Saturday.

On Friday, the World No. 1 had to beat Leonardo Mayer before battling past fellow Swiss Stan Wawrinka 6-7(2), 7-6(6), 6-2. Federer didn’t face a break point and capitalized on two of his own nine chances to prevail after two hours and 16 minutes.

Roger that! 🇨🇭🙌@rogerfederer battles back to defeat Stan Wawrinka 6-7(2) 7-6(6) 6-2 for his 13th consecutive victory at #CincyTennis pic.twitter.com/j2U6ahvBN2

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) 18. August 2018

“I just tried to remember for the core of the match, focus on your serve and try to do what we talked with the coach beforehand on the return games, but it was just never really connecting at the right times my way,” Federer said.

“So I just had to hang tough, not get frustrated, and hope that I was not going to throw in a horrible service game or that he was going to connect perfectly. It was a close match today, so I’m just relieved that I got through it somehow.”

Federer puts his perfect 7-0 record in Cincinnati semi-finals on the line against No. 11 seed David Goffin. The 37-year-old Basel native has not dropped his serve through three matches this week, while Goffin earned
straight-set wins on Friday over Top 10 players Kevin Anderson and Juan Martin del Potro.

Djokovic is two wins from becoming the first player to sweep all nine ATP Masters 1000 titles since the start of the series in 1990. He bids for a sixth Cincinnati final against Marin Cilic, who has won their last two meetings after losing the first 14.

THREE THINGS TO KNOW
1) The rains subsided mid-morning at the Lindner Family Tennis Center, and the Western & Southern Open quickly got back on track. By 3:30 pm Friday, all nine Round of 16 singles matches that had been held over from Thursday were completed, and the quarterfinal round had gotten underway. However, the doubles draws remain a round behind. The men’s doubles quarterfinals and semifinals will take place Saturday afternoon along with the women’s semifinals. Then the first championship of the 2018 Western & Southern Open will be decided with the women’s doubles final Saturday night.

2) We might have to call her “Simona the Semifinalist.” For a tournament Open Era record fourth straight year, Simona Halep is among the W&S Open final four. Halep joins Jelena Jankovic and Serena Williams as the only players to have reached four semifinals here in the Open Era. Halep, whose progress here assures that she will hold the WTA No. 1 ranking through the US Open, is bidding to join two-time champion Williams as the only players to have reached three Cincinnati finals during the Open Era.

3) It’s now 13 in-a-row for seven-time champion Roger Federer at the Western & Southern Open. He is playing here for the first time since winning back-to-back titles in 2014-15. The 13-match winning streak is third-longest at this tournament in the Open Era, trailing Mats Wilander’s streak of 17 straight (1983-85) and Michael Chang’s run of 14 in-a-row (1993-95).

FUN FACT
Friday’s two wins by Roger Federer pushed his Western & Southern win total to 45 matches, tying the record for the most W&S Open match wins in the Open Era with his former coach Stefan Edberg.

MUST WATCH
Click here to see Novak Djokovic star in the premiere of the Western & Southern Open edition of “Dude, Where’s My Car?”

RESULTS – FRIDAY, August 17, 2018
ATP Singles – Quarterfinals
[2] Roger Federer (Switzerland) d [WC] Stan Wawrinka (Switzerland) 67(2) 76(6) 62
[11] David Goffin (Belgium) d [4] Juan Martin del Potro (Argentina) 76(5) 76(4)
[7] Marin Cilic (Croatia) d [13] Pablo Carreno Busta (Spain) 76(7) 64
[10] Novak Djokovic (Serbia) d Milos Raonic (Canada) 75 46 63

ATP Singles – Round of 16
[2] Roger Federer (Switzerland) d Leonardo Mayer (Argentina) 61 76(6)
[4] Juan Martin del Potro (Argentina) d [15] Nick Kyrgios (Australia) 76(4) 67(6) 62
[7] Marin Cilic (Croatia) d Karen Khachanov (Russia) 76(5) 36 64
[10] Novak Djokovic (Serbia) d [5] Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria) 26 63 64
[11] David Goffin (Belgium) d [6] Kevin Anderson (South Africa) 62 64
Stan Wawrinka (Switzerland) d Marton Fucsovics (Hungary) 64 63

WTA Singles – Quarterfinals
[1] Simona Halep (Romania) d Lesia Tsurenko (Ukraine) 64 61
Kiki Bertens (Netherlands) d [5] Elina Svitolina (Ukraine) 64 63
[8] Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) d [15] Elise Mertens 75 57 63
Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus) d [13] Madison Keys 63 64

WTA Singles – Round of 16
[1] Simona Halep (Romania) d [16] Ashleigh Barty (Australia) 75 64
[5] Elina Svitolina (Ukraine) d [WC] Amanda Anisimova (USA) 64 64
Kiki Bertens (Netherlands) d Anett Kontaveit (Estonia) 63 26 63

ATP Doubles – Second Round
Nikola Mektic (Croatia) / Alexander Peya (Austria) d [1] Oliver Marach (Austria) / Mate Pavic (Croatia) 76(3) 62
[3] Henri Kontinen (Finland) / John Peers (Australia) d Ivan Dodig (Croatia) / Robin Haase (Netherlands) 46 76(7) 12-10
[6] Jean-Julien Rojer (Netherlands) / Horia Tecau (Romania) d Sam Querrey (USA) / Rajeev Ram (USA) 63 63

Women’s Doubles – Quarterfinals
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Russia) / Anastasija Sevastova (Latvia) d [3] Andrea Sestini Hlavackova (Czech Republic) / Barbora Strycova (Czech Republic) 76(1) 64
Kaitlyn Christian (USA) / Sabrina Santamaria (USA) d Andreja Klepac (Slovenia) / Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (Spain) 76(2) 62

WTA Doubles – Second Round
[2] Timea Babos (Hungary) / Kristina Mladenovic (France) d Shuko Aoyama (Japan) / Lidziya Marozava (Belarus) 75 76(2)
[7] Lucie Hradecka (Czech Republic) / Ekaterina Makarova (Russia) d Johanna Konta (Great Britian) / Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia) 16 76(4) 10-5