Houston (Texas), Nov 11: Wimbledon champion Roger Federer spoiled Andre Agassi's return from a two-month layoff here at the ATP Masters Cup while Juan Carlos Ferrero's bid for year-end world number one hit a snag.
Third-ranked Swiss star Federer saved two match points to defeat Australian Open winner Agassi 6-7 (3/7) 6-3 7-6 (9/7) yesterday while Argentina's David Nalbandian beat second-ranked Spaniard Ferrero 6-3 6-1 in blue group round-robin openers.
Federer smashed 20 aces past Agassi to help offset 50 unforced errors in beating the eight-time grand slam champion for the first time in four meetings.
"It's nice to beat such players one time in your career," Federer said. "He always puts you on the run. I was missing my forehand a lot, which didn't help. I knew if I didn't freak out, my forehand would come back eventually."
It was Agassi's first match since losing to Ferrero in a US Open semi-final. Agassi, the eldest here at 33, took a break to join wife Steffi Graf for the birth of their daughter Jaz last month.



"I need to execute better on the big points," Agassi said. "Those are signs of not playing in a few months. The standard of the match was high. I had a lot of chances. Hopefully I can take a lot from it but it's very disappointing."



Federer kept a slim chance to win the year-end world number one ranking, but would have to make an undefeated title run through five matches while top-rated Andy Roddick goes winless and French Open champion Ferrero wins only once.



Agassi squandered match points twice in the tie-breaker, clanking a forehand wide and netting a backhand.



"I don't think I've missed that forehand since 1989," Agassi said.



Agassi sent another backhand wide and Federer smashed a cross-court forehand winner past the American to win after two hours and 25 minutes.



"He had two great points when I was serving for the match and hit a great shot on match point," Agassi said. "For him to pull that ball back across the court was just too good."



"I had enough chances where I felt like I could have put the match away but there were a lot of opportunities where he came up with some great shots," said Agassi, who has not won an ATP crown since the US clay courts here in April.



Agassi and Federer traded late breaks in the first set to reach a tie-break, which Federer began with six errant forehands and ended with a backhand beyond the baseline.



"I wasn't very confident going into the last tie-breaker because of the first one," Federer said.


Bureau Report