In August he competed at the Rogers Cup, where he needed to qualify for the main draw despite his high ranking. He defeated Lleyton Hewitt in the first round, 6––1, 6–4, ending Hewitt's three–match winning streak against him. He then defeated 13th seed Gaël Monfils, 6–3, 7–6(9–7). in the pair's first meeting, before losing to Andy Murray once again, 1–6, 3–6. He lost in the first round of the Cincinnati Masters to Marin Čilić, 3–6, 4–6. At the US Open, he defeated Fabrice Santoro in the first round in Santoro's last US Open match. In the second round against Philipp Petzschner, Ferrero mounted a remarkable comeback from two sets down for the third time in his career to win 1–6, 3–6, 6–4, 6–2, 6–4. He went on to defeat No. 9 seed, when Gilles Simon retired with a right knee injury while Ferrer was leading 1–6, 6–4, 7–6(7–5), 1–0 ret, but lost in the fourth round to eventual champion Juan Martín del Potro 3–6, 3–6, 3–6. Ferrero climbed impressively into the top 20, having been ranked No. 115 just 5 months before. In his first tournament after the US Open at the China Open, he lost to Fernando Verdasco, 5–7, 4–6, in the second round, after defeating Nicolás Almagro, 7–5, 7–6(7–3). He competed in the Shanghai Masters, where he missed being seeded by one ranking position. He was crushed in the first round by 13th seed Radek Štěpánek, 6–3, 6–0, winning only 7 points in the second set. He also lost in the first round of the Stockholm Open to Marcos Baghdatis, 4–6, 2–6. He then competed in the Valencia Open but made an early exit to Pablo Cuevas in the first round in a three–set battle, 6–2, 6–7, 3–6, after serving for the set at 5–3 in the second set. He ended the year at No. 23, which was 32 spots higher than the previous year and won his first title in 6 years.