Federer delighted with perfect US Open preparations

CINCINNATI, Aug 20 (Reuters) Roger Federer described his Cincinnati Masters victory as the perfect preparation for his bid to win a fourth consecutive US Open title.

The world number one yesterday crushed American James Blake 6-1 6-4 to win his 14th Masters Series title and 50th career singles crown.

In the past three years, Federer's preparations for the US Open has been hit either by an early loss or withdrawal from one of the two Masters Series events on the hard courts in North America.

This time, he reached the final in Montreal, losing a third-set tiebreak to Novak Djokovic of Serbia before going on to win in Cincinnati.

''It's been my best summer here,'' Federer said.''(In the past) I've won a tournament and then either lost first or second round, or then I didn't play and then I won Cincinnati.

''So this is the best run I've ever had. Last week I played great the entire week. Maybe I played too well in the opening matches and didn't get it together in the finals.

''But maybe that was a good thing, too. It made me want to win here this week, too. So to come through and play 10 matches in, I don't know how many days, it's a great effort for me. Now I'm confident I'm going to be fine at the US Open.'' Despite passing the milestone of 50 titles only a week after his 26th birthday, Federer said he had no designs on the overall men's title record of 109 held by American Jimmy Connors, who played on until he was almost 40.

''It's way too far away,'' he said. ''I'm not even halfway.

They had some different type of tournaments back in the day when Connors still played. I don't want to say they were easier to win, but maybe they used also to play many more tournaments than I did.

''It's not something I'm gunning for at all. I am just trying to have consistent seasons with a lot of titles, as many as possible, and try to focus on the grand slams and the Masters Series.'' The US Open starts on August 27.

Reuters CS VP0602