Roger Federer vs. Gilles Simon: FedEx Will Cruise to Easy Title Win in Shanghai

Roger Federer is doing what he does best in China, which is continue to defy both aging and a slew of world-class opposition trying to dethrone him as the face of tennis. 

The Swiss dynamo rose to the occasion once again on Saturday by beating world No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the first matchup between the two since the epic Wimbledon final. Oh, and he did it in straight sets without a tiebreak, 6-4, 6-4.

Up next for Federer is a date with Gilles Simon in the Shanghai Masters final, which marks yet another championship appearance in 2014, as ESPN Tennis observed:

"

Federer thru to 3rd straight Masters 1000 Final (Toronto, Cincy, Shanghai) w/straight set win. He will face Gilles Simon for the title.

— ESPNTennis (@ESPNTennis) October 11, 2014"

Anything other than another resounding victory from FedEx—which would be a whopping 81st trophy for his expansive collection—will be seen as a shocker. Nobody has had more success late in 2014 than Federer, and he's coming off perhaps his best performance of the season.

And in the words of Djokovic, he looked better than perhaps ever before—which is saying something given the classics these two have embarked in.

"He played a perfect match," Djokovic told The Associated Press, via Tennis.com. "Tonight is definitely one of the best matches he has played against me, that's for sure."

A big indicator of Federer's form is how dominant he's been with his serve, which had been a lost art of his throughout so many of his struggles over the last two years. He rattled off four consecutive aces in a game that clinched the opening set against Djokovic, as the Serbian's typically strong return was no match for Federer's placement. 

Vincent Thian/Associated Press

It might be a bit tougher to keep that up against Simon, who will be much more content playing the baseline than trying to attack Federer with slices. Baseline success paved the way to Simon's semifinal win over Feliciano Lopez.

"I really played what I had to," Simon told AFP's Neil Connor, via Yahoo. "I was feeling really good from the baseline. I felt I almost didn't lose one point from the baseline the whole match."

The world No. 29 was able to sit back and use the baseline to his advantage against much of his opposition thus far in Shanghai, but it won't work against Federer—who has been attacking the net with ferocity.

ByTheMin Tennis summed up Federer's net success against Djokovic:

The world's best tennis player wasn't able to frustrate Federer and keep him off the net. There's no reason, then, to assume Simon—despite ousting Stan Wawrinka and Tomas Berdych already in Shanghai—will be able to buck that trend.

Whether Simon tries to stray Federer away from the net with lobs or not, the Swiss star has shown an ability to take matches over with his serve and notch the occasional breaks by switching up his tactics. Any adjustment made from the Frenchman should result in a chess match played by his opponent.

Vincent Thian/Associated Press

Federer is just 1-1 in ATP Masters finals this season, but the lone defeat came to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in Toronto. Since then, he has ousted David Ferrer in impressive fashion and has proved he has overcome the loss to Marin Cilic at the U.S. Open.

As shown by that loss to Cilic and a near defeat to Gael Monfils in New York, the best way to beat Federer at this point of his career is overpowering him both on the serve and in the return game. Simon is much more of a tactical player who uses his placement to frustrate opponents—a tactic that should prove ill-advised against a player peaking like Federer is.

All signs point to Federer lifting a trophy for the 81st time in Shanghai, and it should lay the foundation for contention in the 2015 major circuit.