One of the least-anticipated finals of a tournament this big in recent years surprised us—and in quite an incredible way. This match was supposed to be a blowout. After all, David Ferrer had won only two sets off Roger Federer in 15 matches. The plucky Spaniard has no real weapons that can hurt Federer, and Federer is one of the few players whom Ferrer really can’t wear down from the baseline. Their matches are almost always lopsided. 

Ferrer came out flying on Sunday in Cincinnati, though, playing one of the best matches we’ve seen him play. He played with excellent depth but avoided hitting too many errors. His inside-out forehand was lethal, which it needs to be against Federer. He left the court open to hit that shot when he could, but he made sure that Federer couldn’t punch it back for winners. Ferrer played his absolute best level of tennis, which was enough to keep things close early.

Ferrer couldn’t keep that up, though, and played a poor game while serving down 4-5 in the first set. In a game that included two double faults, Ferrer handed away the first set and what seemed like any chance he had to stay in the match. A turning point came in the beginning of the second set, however, when Ferrer had to save break point after break point just to stay alive. He did, and immediately broke Federer in the next game on his fourth try. He then ran away with the set, threatening to take it with a bagel. Federer managed a face-saving hold, and the set went 6-1 to Ferrer.

With all of the momentum seemingly on the Spaniard’s side, Federer managed to hold to open the third set and then again at 1-1. Then, to the surprise of many, Federer managed to open up and create a break point chance. From there, it was all Federer. Ferrer won just one more game as Federer took the third set and the match, 6-2.

Federer was very pleased with his overall performance in this match and this week. He mentioned that he had originally considered withdrawing from Cincinnati because it might be too much after the short turnaround after reaching the final in Toronto.

Federer only had one thing to say about the second set, “Yeah, let's not talk about the second set.” He did mention that his chances to get one break back late in the second set helped set the stage for the third, saying, “I really thought I was feeling better again towards the end of the second set, as he felt better at the end of the first. I carried that over into the third and served great and was able to come up with some really good plays. Just overall I think I played a great match at the end.” Federer also said the best part of this week was that he “got better and better as the week progressed.”

The women’s final, unfortunately, did not match up to the excitement of the men’s. Ana Ivanovic came out firing, attacking Serena Williams' second serves and spanking winners from the baseline. Her backhand was particularly lethal, and Serena seemed a bit sluggish. That didn’t last, though, and after Ivanovic took a 3-1 lead it was all Serena from there

Ivanovic wasn’t too disappointed with her loss, explaining, “I really felt she was really solid today. Not only on her serve, but on the groundstrokes I felt like she was dominating. I did have chance, especially when we started the rallies, but I just couldn't get the serve back. That actually created more pressure on my serve, and then my serve percentage dropped.” She also felt that Serena was at her best today, adding that “we are lucky to have someone like her in our game.”

The men’s doubles final was also a bit of a disappointment. After the pair of teams played an all-time classic in the Wimbledon final two months ago, the Bryan brothers got their revenge by dominating the team of Jack Sock and Vasek Pospisil 6-3 6-2. The Bryans broke Sock/Pospisil in all three games they had the opportunity, while Sock/Pospisil could not convert their sole break opportunity. It was the Bryan brothers’ 99th career title, and the PopSocks’ first loss playing as a team.