Top-seeded Swiss Roger Federer captured his fourth ATP World Tour title of the year and his third trophy at Western & Southern Financial Group Masters in Cincinnati on Sunday, after defeating fourth seed Novak Djokovic 6-1, 7-5 in one hour and 31 minutes. It was Federer’s eighth win in 12 meetings against Djokovic, but his first win against the Serbian since the 2008 US Open.

Federer, who has already qualified for the prestigious Barclays ATP World Tour Finals at London in November, collected $443,500 and 1000 South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings points. World No. 4 Djokovic further strengthened his chances of qualifying for the season climax, earning $222,000 and 600 rankings points at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 hard-court tennis tournament.

The 28-year-old Federer is the fourth player to win at least three titles at the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters in the Open Era (since 1968). He has now won 16 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles (16-9 overall), second only to Andre Agassi’s 17, and 61 tour-level titles during his career (61-22 lifetime).

"I think the special part [is] winning for the first time as a dad," said Federer, a father to twin girls. "It's a great thing. [It] gets me going emotionally a little bit, because I know it's been a wonderful summer.

"I really had the feeling today I could mix it up the way I wanted to. That then gives me a lot of confidence. I was playing great from the beginning to the end."

Federer cruised through the 33-minute first set, which included a 13-minute second game. Djokovic saved six of seven break points but Federer made the breakthrough and went on to secure a second service break in the fourth game. Federer won 16 of 19 service points, while Djokovic clinched his third service game to avoid a 6-0 set. 

"That second game helped him to get into the rhythm, and he gained more confidence, played more relaxed from that point on," said Djokovic. "He was just too good in the first set. I didn't start very energetic, and my body language wasn't [what] it was last night [against Rafael Nadal]."

But Djokovic, who finished runner-up to Andy Murray in the 2008 Cincinnati final, bounced back by storming into a 3-0 second-set lead, courtesy of a service break in the second game. Federer, a titlist in 2005 (d. Roddick) and 2007 (d. Blake), regained his composure and almost won four games in a row but at 3-3, the World No. 1 could not convert two break point opportunities.

"I found the rhythm [at] the start of the second set," said Djokovic. "I thought I would be able to hold on, but he just put too much pressure on my service games. If you play against Roger without the first serve, I don't think you have a lot of chances."

Federer saved one set point at 4-5, 30/40 and crucially converted his fourth of 15 break point opportunities in the 11th game, before serving out his 47th win of the 2009 ATP World Tour season (47-7 record) with a love service game.  Federer won 43 of 60 total service points, including seven aces, in the final.

"It's good to know that when I need a good serve I can hit it," explained Federer. "Whereas maybe last week [at the Rogers Cup in Montreal] I still had some muscle pain just from coming back on tour. I got the muscle pain out and got used to hitting big serves again. I have no back problem and pain, so that allows me again to play freely and focus on the way I want to play and not the way I have to hit the shot. That's a big difference today than a few months ago."

The Swiss superstar has a 202-60 match record since playing his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament at the 1999 Sony Ericcson Open in Miami. He trails only Agassi (209 wins). 

Federer, who has been No. 1 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings for 244 weeks – fourth all-time behind Pete Sampras (286), Ivan Lendl (270) and Jimmy Connors (268) – has captured three titles this year at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Madrid (d. Nadal), Roland Garros (d. Soderling) and Wimbledon (d. Roddick).

The 22-year-old Djokovic falls to 4-6 in ATP World Tour Masters 1000 finals and 13-11 in tour-level finals overall.

Djokovic, who has ranked in the Top 4 every week since 9 July 2007, was appearing in his seventh ATP World Tour final of the year (2-5 record). A titlist at Dubai (d. Ferrer) and Belgrade (d. Kubot), the Monte-Carlo resident dropped to 53-16 match record on the season (28-8 on hard courts).

"Overall, it's [a] final and it's been [a] great week for me, and I got a lot of matches in before the US Open," said Djokovic. "I'm satisfied. I didn't start that great the tournament. I had some slow starts, but I had some big servers for opponents. I will try to work in these seven days before US Open on things, on a better approach to the match and being aggressive from the start. If I manage to do that, I think I can get far."