Novak Djokovic ended a career-long jinx, lifting the trophy in Cincinnati at last to complete a matched set of Masters 1000 titles.
Djokovic, who came up empty in five prior Cincinnati finals, defeated seven-time winner Roger Federer 6-4, 6-4 in the final.
The former world number one became the first man to win all nine of the ATP's Masters 1000 events in the elite series' current configuration.
Federer, meanwhile, lost a final in the hardcourt US Open tuneup for the first time.
"I played five finals (here) before, and most of those finals I lost to this great man, Roger ... Thank you for letting me win here once in Cincinnati," Djokovic joked.
"This is a dream come true," Djokovic said.
"I finally won Cincinnati after six finals, some against the greatest ever, Roger."
Federer, a 20-time Grand Slam winner, said his game wasn't sharp -- but he didn't want to take anything away from Djokovic's achievement.
"Novak is a great champion," Federer said.
"This is about him making history."
"It was definitely not my best day on the return - it was just awful," Federer said.
"Novak totally deserved to win today. This (effort) was not good enough.
kiki shocks Halep
Dutch challenger Kiki Bertens profited from a third-set collapse from Simona Halep to score the biggest win of her career Sunday, beating the world number one 2-6, 7-6 (8/6), 6-2 in the Cincinnati final.
Halep, who won the Montreal trophy a week ago and came into the final on a nine-match winning streak, ran out of reserves and was unable to stop the mounting Bertens momentum.
"I've lost three finals here, but maybe I will able to win one at this tournament because I love to play here," said Halep, who fell to Serena Williams in the 2015 final of the hardcourt US Open tuneup and to Garbine Muguruza in the title match last year.
The upset took just over two hours and marked the 10th time this season that 17th-ranked Bertens has defeated a top 10 opponent.
"Hopefully we can play many more matches like this in the future," said Bertens, who claimed a sixth career WTA title.
The depleted Halep is still entered as top seed in the upcoming WTA tournament in New Haven, which ends just two days prior to the start of the US Open in New York.