Sportmaster International

Shanghai - Roger Federer claimed his 28th straight match victory to move to within one win of a third Masters Cup title after defeating Rafael Nadal 6-4, 7-5 on Saturday. The Swiss managed only his third career victory against his nearest career rival, following up on a title victory against the Spaniard at Wimbledon five months ago. He now stands 3-6 in that series with the double French Open winner. The end came after nearly two hours on a third match point, with Federer hammering a sharply angled cross-court winner to break Nadal. The Swiss

struck seven aces and had 13 break point chances, converting on three. Nadal missed on one of his two opportunities against an opponent who struck 29 winners. ‘All our last matches have all been in finals, so I think it’s kind of good that it was maybe in the semis also,’ Federer said after dispatching Nadal. ‘I think it lived up to the expectations, it as a great match. We’ll see another good match tomorrow. ‘It was nice that we played each other because he was on the verge of not qualifying for the semis. So I’m happy to have played him today.’ The win lifted Federer to 91-5 on the season. The Swiss has become first player in over 20 years to win 90 matches in a season after Ivan Lendl went 106-9 in 1982. Federer will Sunday face a possible re-match of the 2005 title match against David Nalbandian or could find himself playing American outsider James Blake after that pair clash in the second semi-final. Switzerland’s Federer, year-end number 1 for the third season in succession became the first player to reach four consecutive finals at a season-ending championship since Ivan Lendl, who reached a record nine finals in a row between 1980-1988. The win came in Federer’s sixth match this season against Nadal. Their last meeting before a final came in the 2005 Roland Garros semi-finals, which the Spaniard won on the way to the first of his two titles in Paris. © 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur