Federer wins Shanghai for first time, Bryan Brothers do the same

Arguably the greatest singles player of all time and the greatest doubles team of all time triumphed at the Shanghai Rolex Masters for the first time in their careers on Sunday, both doing it at the expense of Frenchmen.

Roger Federer prevailed in the Shanghai final by defeating Gilles Simon 7-6(6), 7-6(2). Federer saved set points in each of the two sets before getting the job done in one hour and 53 minutes. It is the 17-time Grand Slam champion’s 23rd career Masters 1000 title.

Both players dropped serve only once in the entire match, Federer in the very first game and Simon while trying to close out the opener at 5-4. Despite the disappointment of failing to seal the deal, Simon recovered to fight off two set points at 5-6 and he later held a set point at 6-5 in the tiebreaker. Federer snuffed it out with a service winner, then fired another service winner followed by a backhand pass to snag the set.

Serving first in the second set, Simon survived a flurry of difficult games to keep his nose in front en route to a 6-5 advantage. The 29th-ranked Frenchman went ahead 0-30 and had set points at 15-40 and 30-40, but he could not convert. Federer promptly raced through the ensuing ‘breaker to clinch a hard-fought victory.

“It makes me very happy winning here because this tournament means a lot to me,” the 33-year-old Swiss said. “I’ve always enjoyed coming here. I’ve come close a couple of times. I feel unbelievable prestige to win this event–specially putting my hands on the trophy for the first time is a good feeling. I’m very happy with the way I’m playing. Overall I’m just extremely happy right now.”

Bob and Mike Bryan have to be experiencing a similarly content feeling having also prevailed in Shanghai for the first time on Sunday. In a matchup between the 2014 U.S. Open and French Open doubles champions, the Bryan brothers bested Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-2, 7-6(3).

The Americans have now won all 10 Masters 1000 titles (including Hamburg, which is no longer a Masters). They own 31 such trophies and have lifted all of them other than Shanghai more than once.

“It’s another great milestone,” Bob assured. “This week was full of them for us. To come and get in the title match, have a shot at winning the tournament that’s eluded us, complete the Golden Masters, is amazing. It was really the last thing left for us to do. We can definitely shut it down today and be happy guys.”

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