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Roger Federer renewed his rivalry with David Ferrer and felt a tinge of regret after beating the Spanish veteran 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the third round of the Rogers Cup Canadian Open men’s tennis championships.

The win boosted Federer’s career record against Ferrer to 17-0, prompting Federer to say: “I’m not 100 per cent comfortable with the head-to-head I have against David because I have so much respect for him.”

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Federer said he goes out to win every match he plays, but admitted there were times when he felt sorry for his opponents.

“In the juniors, yeah (and) probably my two times when I beat (Marco) Chiudinelli, because we grew up together in Basel, we played soccer against each other,” Federer said. “We were best friends way back when. We played twice on the Tour, once in Qatar, once in Basel in our home tournament, in the semis. Both times I won, I was like, ah, s–t. I wished he won as well because it would have done much more for his career than for me. “Yeah, in the juniors, I just felt sometimes when I used to play guys, you know, somewhere in the world where I felt like technically maybe they were struggling. I just felt like, oh, he’s trying so hard, he’s such a fighter,” Federer said. “I don’t know, I feel like probably he works harder than I do, so he probably deserves it more. Then he beat me and I’m like, I feel so bad. I’m such an idiot for falling into that trap.