Roger Federer defeated world number one Novak Djokovic 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 on Sunday to win his seventh ATP Cincinnati Masters title.

Federer denied Djokovic a first Cincinnati crown, leaving it the only one of the elite Masters titles the Serb has never won.

With the win, world number three Federer will regain the number two ranking that Andy Murray grabbed with his triumph in Montreal last week – just in time to make Federer the second seed at the US Open starting on August 31.

Sunday’s defeat means the Serbian world number ne has now failed in finals at both of his tune-up events for final Grand Slam of the year, which starts on August 31.

Federer gave himself three match points with his seventh ace of the contest and converted on the first to the cheers of a partisan crowd.

The 34-year-old Swiss – who wasn’t broken all week – nudged ahead of Djokovic 21-20 in their head-to-head series as he avenged last month’s defeat by the Serb in the Wimbledon final.

The pair were playing for the Cincinnati title for a third time.

Djokovic, trying to become the first man to win all nine of the elite Masters 1000 titles, instead endured his fifth finals defeat at Cincinnati – the lone Masters missing from his resume.