Mason, OH (My Sportsbook) - Swiss superstar Roger Federer fended off a dogged attack from American wild card Mardy Fish Sunday to win the $3 million Western & Southern Financial Group Masters tournament, a key U.S. Open Series event.

Federer, the former world No. 1, second ranked and third seed here, withstood two set tie breaks, 17 aces and 4-of-5 saved break points from Fish to come away with a 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-1), 6-4 triumph on the hardcourts at the Lindner Family Tennis Center.

Federer fired 11 aces of his own and won 77 percent of his first serves en route to a fourth Cincinnati title (2005, '07 and '09-'10), joining Mats Wilander (1983-84, '86, '88) as the only players in the Open Era to win four titles here.

"I've been playing well the past couple weeks, and today was just (more) proof that I'm playing really well," Federer said. "I thought I played an excellent match today. I had huge belief that I was going to win today from the first point until the end. That sometimes can make a bit of a difference. Then I was positive all the way through because I felt I was playing well, even though I lost the first set. So I never got down on myself and doubted myself. I think that reflected in the game as well."

Making his 90th career finals appearance, Federer captured his first title since winning the Australian Open in January, while simultaneously avoiding dropping a fourth consecutive final for the first time in his career. He lost in last week's Rogers Cup final to Andy Murray.

Federer tied a pair of tennis legends along the way with career win No. 63, matching Bjorn Borg for fifth on the all-time Open Era list. The Swiss also tied Andre Agassi for second all-time with his 17th Masters 1000 crown.

Fish, meanwhile, was searching for his third title of the year and nearly made it two straight wins over Federer, having won their last meeting in the semifinals of ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Indian Wells tourney in March 2008. Federer, though, pushed his head-to-head mark against the improving American to 6-1.

"I feel great. I've done some things that I've never done before," Fish said. "I'll be able to put this match in perspective very shortly. It's a great tournament. It's as well as I've played. I played well today; (Federer) played well today. It was a pretty high level, I thought, for the most part."

The 28-year-old Fish managed to jump to No. 21 in the world rankings despite coming out on the short end. He was making his fourth finals appearance of the 2010 season.

Federer claimed $443,500 in winnings for his efforts.