No. 98 Mardy Fish stunned No. 1 Roger Federer 6-3, 6-2 Saturday in the Pacific Life Open semifinals. Fish, pulling off by far the biggest of a string of upsets he's put together in the tournament, dominated the match against the three-time Indian Wells champion. The 26-year-old Fish, who ended Federer's 41-match win streak against Americans dating to a 2003 loss to Andy Roddick, moved into Sunday's final against Novak Djokovic, a 6-3, 6-2 winner over defending champion Rafael Nadal.

Federer's loss, even more surprising because it was so lopsided, continued his frustration this season. The once invincible-seeming Swiss star has lost three times this year, beaten by Djokovic in the Australian Open semifinals and Andy Murray in the opening round at Dubai.

The 26-year-old Federer had been slowed by mononucleosis earlier in the year, but said during the Indian Wells tournament that he was OK again. Before facing Fish, he hadn't lost a set in the tournament and had a walkover in his Friday quarterfinal when Tommy Haas withdrew because of a sinus infection.

Federer looked like just another player Saturday, with his backhand especially mediocre. He hit just one winner and had 13 unforced errors with his backhand against his American foe.

Fish kept constant pressure on him, serving seven aces to Federer's two, and peppering the lines with hard groundstrokes. Fish hit 26 winners to Federer's 14 in defeating him for the first time in six career meetings.

"This obviously wasn't Roger's best day, but hopefully I had a little something to do with that. I put the pressure, extremely, on him from the word go," said Fish, who jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first set and remained in control the rest of the way.

Asked if he could recall another upset in tennis to equal it, Fish smiled and said, "I don't think I'm that bad."

In a career interrupted by various injuries, he reached his highest ranking, No. 17, four years ago.

Federer said Fish certainly is far better than his No. 98 ranking, and credited him with playing "incredibly" in their match.

"When he wanted to attack, everything worked," Federer said. "He would never miss, really, when I needed a miss once in a while."

He said it's impossible to not lose such matches occasionally, adding: "I'm surprised myself that it hasn't happened more in the last five years. You always think one guy can outright dominate you on any given day.

"People weren't able to do it against me, so that speaks for itself. But today, Mardy was really impossible to beat, it almost looked like."

Federer said he usually learns something from a loss, but not this one.

"It went too quickly and I couldn't feel there was anything there to be done differently. The guy was on top of his game, took his chances and it was over in a heartbeat," he said.

Fish, who had never beaten as many as two top 10 players in one tournament, made it three in a week at Indian Wells. He defeated No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko and No. 7 David Nalbandian, as well as No. 24 Lleyton Hewitt, before beating Federer.

Australian Open champion Djokovic, ranked No. 3 to Nadal's No. 2, avenged last year's loss to the Spaniard in the Indian Wells final.

The 20-year-old Serb served eight aces to two by Nadal, and hit 20 winners to the Spaniard's 11.

The match included several long, spectacular rallies when each dashed around the court making difficult returns. More often than not, Djokovic would end those rallies by driving a winner down the lines, or Nadal would finally miss a shot.

"I had more mistakes than usual," Nadal said. "I feel a little bit tired from the last two matches. If you play against a player like Novak, you have to play 100 percent if you want to win.

"He's a very complete player - very good serve, very good backhand, very good forehand. He moves fast and well. He has very good position on the court."

Djokovic said he's trying to take his fast start to the season in stride.

"I need to stay calm and just go step by step and try to get to my lifetime goal, which is to be No. 1," he said. "It's getting closer, but still, I don't want to go too fast and skip some things. I really need to be consistent with my results in the most important events, major events.

"I started the year in the best possible way, but it's not over yet."

In Sunday's women's final, Ana Ivanovic will face Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Written By KEN PETERS

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