Fish shocks Federer to book final berth

　　INDIAN WELLS, California, March 22, 2008 - Mardy Fish pulled off a whale of an upset on Saturday, stunning world number one Roger Federer 6-3, 6-2 to reach the final of the ATP Masters Series Pacific Life Open.

　　Fish, ranked 98th in the world, needed just 63 minutes to roll past the Swiss superstar, who mustered just one break point and couldn't convert it.

　　The defeat leaves Federer still searching for his first tournament victory of 2008, the first time since 2000 that the 12-time Grand Slam champion has gone so far into a season without a title.

　　Fish next faces Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic, who ousted defending champion Rafael Nadal 6-3, 6-2.

　　Fish sent a shiver through the stadium-court crowd with his first break of Federer in the second game. He held for 3-0 and never looked back, taking the opening set in 39 minutes.

　　"This wasn't, obviously, Roger's best day. But hopefully I had a little something to do with that," Fish said.

　　"I put the pressure extremely - from the word go - on him. It was a dream start to go up 3-0, and have a couple break points there at 3-0.

　　"He had a break point against my second serve game when I was 2-0. That was a huge game to get through that."

　　Federer admitted he just couldn't find an answer to Fish's go-for-broke approach.

　　"He was just trying to go for everything, and it worked," Federer said. "I didn't even play particularly bad on the break points ... Every time he read the right side on the serve, and he kept the ball in play. When he wanted to attack, everything worked.

　　"That was just impressive by his side, and I couldn't do much to control it. I didn't even think he served particularly well. It was just impossible to return his first serve, which it normally is anyway. But I couldn't get into his second serves, and that was the disappointing part about today."

　　The American opened the second set with a break - firing a stinging service return on break point - and broke again in the fifth game for a 4-1 lead.

　　Federer fended off two match points against his own serve in the seventh game, but Fish took a 40-0 lead in the next game to give himself three more chances, and claimed the unlikely triumph when Federer netted a forehand.

　　"I was more nervous, maybe, than I ever have been serving with two breaks," Fish said. "Usually I'm relatively comfortable with two breaks in a set.

　　"I kept telling myself that there's somebody else on the other side of the court. You just try to blank out who it was and just try to play the ball and keep control of what I could control on my side."

　　Fish had lost all five of his previous encounters with Federer, winning just one set in the process.

　　"I've had a great record against him, always controlled matches against him," Federer said. "Today was different. He played great today, so congratulations. Fantastic."

　　Fish became the lowest-ranked player to beat Federer since then 101st-ranked Richard Gasquet of France beat him at Monte Carlo in 2005.

　　However, Federer said that was misleading, since Fish has been ranked as high as 17th in the world in March of 2004.

　　"It's not like he just made a career breakthrough breaking into the top 100," Federer said. "The guy has been top 20 before and he's had big matches before. We all know how good Mardy can be."

　　While Fish had to battle through five tough rounds to reach the semi-finals, Federer enjoyed a first-round bye and then advanced from the quarters on a walkover when his scheduled opponent, German Tommy Haas, withdrew with a sinus infection.

　　"I was a bit deflated yesterday," Federer said. "I was ready to play against Tommy. But that's not an excuse. Mardy played incredible."

　　Djokovic, the third seed, turned the tables on the second-seeded Spaniard, who beat him in the final here last year.

　　Djokovic gained the upper hand in the second set with a service break in the fifth game as Nadal knocked a forehand wide. He broke again in the seventh game and took the match after an hour and 27 minutes when Nadal dumped a service return into the net.

　　"Tactically wise, I played really smart," Djokovic said. "I knew that I had to be aggressive and take control, try to go for the shots, which I did."

　　The Fish-Djokovic final comes Sunday afternoon after top-seeded Serbian Ana Ivanovic and second-seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova battle for the crown in the WTA section of the tournament.