Roger Federer [Images] became the first player to win more than $7 million in one season at the Masters Cup this week and believes he is pulling away from his rivals in men's tennis.

The Swiss banked $120,000 with his narrow victory over American Andy Roddick [Images] in Shanghai on Tuesday and remained on course for a third Masters Cup title, which would be his 12th tournament win of the season.

"I've had the best season of my career with all four Grand Slam finals, winning three, so I definitely feel like I've never played better tennis," said the Wimbledon, Australian and US Open champion.

"I guess we have to say right now I'm kind of going away from everybody. Because there was this moment maybe at Wimbledon or later on in the American summer where people thought [Rafael] Nadal is going to be really close, but he wasn't able to maintain his play.

"I've hardly lost any matches in the last two seasons. For me, I don't know if I can keep it up another season, but definitely at the moment I've really gained a lot of confidence and [I'm] feeling physically also better than ever.

"So I feel like this is my time at the moment."

The Swiss, who will go over the $8 million mark for the season if he wins in Shanghai, has lost only nine times in 179 matches in the 2005 and 2006 seasons.

The 25-year-old plays Croatian Ivan Ljubicic in his final round robin group match on Thursday and may need to notch up win number 90 of the year to ensure a place in the semi-finals.

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