Once again, #Roger Federer overwhelmed tennis new power Milos Raonic, to secure his berth in a sixth Western & Southern Open final, recording a comfortable 6-2, 6-3 win early today. It was also  his sixth  career  head-to-head victory over the Canadian.

The 33 year old Federer next faces 32-year-old Spaniard David Ferrer in the ninth all-Top 10 final of the season  later today.

This is the first final between players 30-or-over in Cincinnati in the Open Era and the first time in an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final. Federer has triumphed in all 15 FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings against Ferrer, the last coming a week ago in the Toronto quarter-finals.

“I’m playing much better [than last year. I can move freely again,” Federer told ESPN after the semi-final. “I’m happy the results show. It’s more fun playing this way. Now I am playing the right way.

Federer: dominates Raonic for another final

“It’s great for the confidence to switch from clay to grass to hard courts and keep on playing well. I’ve had a very complete season so far,” added Federer. “This is my eighth final of the season. I hope I can win another final here.”

The second seed claimed all 16 of points on his serve in the first set of the semi-final, his game never in danger against the fifth-seeded Raonic.

In the second set, both players held serve until the eighth game, in which Federer clawed back from 0/40 to break the Canadian. The World No. 3 served out the match in the following game to secure his place in the final in 68 minutes.

The World No. 3 bids to maintain his perfect record in title bouts at the Lindner Family Tennis Center, having lifted the trophy here in 2005 (d. Roddick), 2007 (d. Blake), 2009 (d. Djokovic), 2010 (d. Fish) and 2012 (d. Djokovic).

This marks the seventh tournament in which Federer has reached the championship stage on six or more occasions. Federer has contested the Basel final on 10 occasions (5-5); Halle and Wimbledon, each nine (7-2); theBarclays ATP World Tour finals and Dubai each on eight attempts (6-2) and the US Open  six times (5-1).

Federer stands a win away from his 80th career singles title and leads the ATP with 48 match wins this season. The Swiss owns titles from Dubai and Halle this season and will be playing in his eighth final.

Raonic: just can’t understand Federer

Spain’s Ferrer, seeded sixth, schooled Benneteau as the Frenchman played in his first semi-final at the elite Masters 1000 level.

He needed just 71 minutes to seal the victory and give himself a shot at adding a second title of 2014 to the trophy he lifted in Buenos Aires.

The Spaniard also reached the final at Hamburg this year, but he last played a Masters event final in November, when he lost to Novak Djokovic at Paris Bercy.

Ferrer will aim for his 22nd career trophy on Sunday.

“I played very consistently, and got the break, then I could play with calm,” he said, calling the match “maybe my best of the week”.

“I played without a lot of mistakes but it was difficult to return sometimes.”

Ferrer took a 4-1 lead in the second set and while Benneteau put up a last-gasp fight he was able to wait for the exhausted Frenchman to finally make an error on the fifth match point.

“I’m going step by step,” Ferrer said. “Tennis is always a surprise. When I looked in my quarter of the draw and saw Novak Djokovic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga there, I knew it was not easy.

“But as they lost, I took my chance and got into the final. I’m trying to improve my game every day. Watching the top 10 guys is a great inspiration to improve also.”

.Reported by ATPworldtour.com and AFP