Novak Djokovic finally won the tournament that had been eluding him, beating Roger Federer 6-4, 6-4 on Sunday for his first Cincinnati Masters title. The Serbian got the better of the players’ first meeting in nearly two years, and triumphed in a tournament that Federer has won seven times, never losing a final.

After Federer’s forehand sailed wide for the deciding point, Djokovic raised both arms and roared. Then he jumped and punched the air before giving his racket to a fan and tossing his sweatbands into the stands.

Djokovic is the first to claim all nine ATP Masters 1000 events since the series started in 1990. It had become his personal quest after he lost in Cincinnati finals on three previous occasions against Federer.

Djokovic leads the pair’s all-time series 24-22, dominating the biggest matches. He is 3-1 against Federer in grand slam finals and 12-6 overall in championship matches, including wins at Wimbledon and the US Open in 2015.

Djokovic completed a long comeback from elbow surgery by winning his fourth Wimbledon title last month, then set out to get his hard-court game in order for the US Open. He got better as the rainy week went on in Cincinnati, playing his best tennis at the end.

Federer’s serve had been untouchable all week, and he had held for 46 consecutive games. Djokovic broke that streak to go 4-3 up in the opening set, prompting Federer to mutter angrily. Djokovic served out the set, and then traded breaks with Federer early in the second set. Federer’s game was off, and he committed 39 unforced errors as Djokovic took full advantage. He broke him again in the second set to go up 4-3 and served it out.

In the women’s final, top-ranked Simona Halep let a match point slip away during the second-set tiebreaker, and Kiki Bertens rallied for a 2-6, 7-6, 6-2 victory in her first hard-court final.

One point away from another loss, she had pulled off her biggest win, one that left her as stunned as everyone else. “I cannot find words for this moment,” she said.

The Dutch clay-court specialist ended Halep’s streak of nine straight wins, including the title at Montreal a week earlier. She’d never beaten a top-ranked player, but wore down Halep at the end of her two draining weeks.

During the week in Cincinnati, Halep had one match suspended overnight by rain and wound up playing twice in one day to reach the semi-finals. She controlled the first set on Sunday and had a chance to close it out, leading 6-5 in the tiebreaker.

When that slipped away, she could not recover, with 13 unforced errors in the final set to give Bertens a chance to pull away. “I had a match [point], so I was there,” Halep said. “I didn’t take my chance. In the third set , I was empty and I couldn’t fight anymore.”

Bertens has worked on her hard-court game and her confidence on the surface. In three previous appearances in Cincinnati, she won a total of one match. She became the first unseeded player to win in Cincinnati since Vera Zvonareva in 2006.

