Andy Murray may have missed out on defending his Tokyo title yesterday but the joy of being a Grand Slam champion is that defeats in the "lesser" tournaments tend not to hurt as much as they might once have done.

With the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals to aim for at the start of next month and with Masters 1000 events in Shanghai starting tomorrow, and later this month in Paris, there is plenty to play for as the world No 3 looks to maintain his momentum and end the year on a high.

As a perfectionist, it will have irritated the Scot that he could not claim either of his two match points against Milos Raonic in the semi-finals in Japan, not least having led 4-1 in the third set after a slow start.

But his 6-3, 6-7, 7-6 loss was a case of no damage done, matches in the bag and some stiffness eased out of his body in what was his first event back after the US Open, where he claimed his first Grand Slam title in such spectacular fashion

"I said before the tournament that there was always probably going to be a little bit of residue from the last few months," said Murray, who cut a relaxed figure throughout the week. "But once I got into the match I started playing better. I was 4-1 up in the third set and had match points, so I wasn't far off. If I'd started the match better then maybe it would have been different. But he played well behind his serve, especially his first serve. His first shot was good, especially the first couple of sets. That made it tough for me."

In truth, Murray was second best for much of the match as his opponent, whose huge serve was firing, played far more aggressively than when the two met last month in New York.

On that occasion, Murray had torn him apart with a focused display in which his own new-found aggressiveness paid off.

Yesterday, on a faster court and with Murray not quite at his best, the Canadian could have won in straight sets but in the end was a worthy winner, reaching his sixth ATP Tour final.

Murray admitted that he had experienced a little stiffness in his back at the start of the week but put it down to playing matches again and said he would be fine come Shanghai, where he will be bidding to win the title for the third straight year.

"When you haven't played for a few weeks the first couple of matches seem to be a little bit harder but once you get through them my body tends to feel better," he said. "So I'm glad I got a lot of matches in this week and I'll be feeling good for Shanghai."

Losing in the semi-finals in Tokyo will have cost Murray a few ranking points and his hopes of becoming No 1 this year, though mathematically possible, look unlikely. But with four events still on his schedule – Shanghai, Basle, Paris and London – there are 4000 ranking points to play for so a good run from here on could see him in a position to strike come the start of next year.

"I need to just focus on Shanghai, which is obviously a big event," Murray said. "The World Tour Finals are a big goal of mine this year, so I need to make sure I'm 100% fit for that because last year I missed them and that was a really hard way for me to end the season.

"It's one of the most important tournaments of the year outside of the slams and you work all year to get there, so when you miss it through an injury it's a really hard way to finish the year after all the work you put in. I want to make sure I'm fit and ready for that. That's the main goal."

Murray will begin his title defence in Shanghai, probably on Tuesday, against the winner of the match between Australia's Bernard Tomic and Florian Mayer of Germany.

The Scot is in the same half of the draw as Roger Federer, whose late decision to play is an indication he is intent on fending off Novak Djokovic to stay as world No 1 at the end of the year.