Federer into Semifinals Unbeaten in Red Group
© Getty Images By Bill Scott
Roger Federer (audio) claimed a semi-final spot at the Tennis Masters Cup on Thursday as he pounded Ivan Ljubicic for an eighth straight time to finish round-robin play undefeated at 15-0 through his career to date.
The Swiss world No. 1 confirmed his weekend booking as he defeated Croatian Ljubicic 7-6 (7-2), 6-4. He closed out victory with his seventh ace.
That win in 93 minutes, coupled with David Nalbandian's 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) victory over Andy Roddick (report) a few hours earlier, left only one semi-final place to be decided on Friday in the Gold group.
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James Blake booked the first spot a day earlier, marking a successful debut at the year-end event for the American who holds five titles this season.
Federer was again on song as he won his 90th match of 2006 against just five losses.
© Getty Images The 25-year-old world-beater is making his fifth consecutive Tennis Masters Cup appearance.
After reaching the semifinals at Shanghai in 2002, he won consecutive titles at Houston in 2003-04, before his 14-match Masters Cup winning streak was ended in last year's Shanghai final by Nalbandian in a five-set comeback thriller.
Federer lost the first game of the match against Ljubicic, but quickly put that mis-step right with an early break-back. He claimed the set on the first of four set points.
The Swiss broke in the third game of the second set, then saved three break points to hold for 3-1.
It was soon only a matter of time before Federer finished off Ljubicic for the tenth time in 14 meetings dating to 2000 in Marseille.
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