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MONTREAL - Roger Federer dismissed his defeat by Novak Djokovic in the Montreal Masters final yesterday as "insignificant", but admitted the Serb deserved his second Masters Series title.
The world No 1 was left to rue six missed set points in the opening set as Djokovic, who will rise to third in the world rankings, became the first man to beat the Federer and Rafael Nadal in the same tournament.
"The goal was to win Wimbledon," Federer said.
"Done that. Then, try to stay No 1 in the world. It would have helped to have won today, but you can't have it all.
"Looking at the US Open, and down the road, the Masters, there's still a long way to go. I can't start being disappointed about one match."
With a break in the second game, Djokovic raced to a 3-0 lead. He was pegged back to 3-3 and Federer looked odds on to win the set when he led 6-5, 40-0 on his own serve.
But a couple of loose shots and some free hitting from Djokovic handed the break back, and the Serb played inspired tennis to win the tiebreak.
Federer won the second set thanks to two breaks, but after hauling himself back from 4-2 down in the third, he lost the deciding tiebreak to give Djokovic the title.
"I was pleased that I came back in the second set," Federer said.
"But I couldn't play freely from the baseline because I was always in a tough situation, whereas against the other players I was able to get a break ahead. Today I could never really breathe.
"It was not too bad a performance - but there were too many ups and downs and then I totally missed my chances when I had them."
Djokovic's win over Andy Roddick, who began the week as the world No 3 and his subsequent victories over the world's top two made him the first man since Boris Becker in Stockholm in 1994 to beat the top-three ranked players at the same tournament.
Federer said he expected Djokovic to be a force at the US Open later this month.
"He's been able to back it up for a year now," Federer said.
"If he keeps this up, he's going to create some chances also at the Grand Slams, because he's already been able to come to the semifinals [French Open and Wimbledon].
"This might be a breakthrough tournament for him."
- Reuters
