Roddick faces Nalbandian in final

Wimbledon champion Roger Federer missed the chance to become world number one for the first time in his career when he lost for the first time in five meetings with Andy Roddick.

The Swiss star’s 6-4 3-6 7-6 Masters Series semi-final defeat in Montreal by the sixth-seeded American prevented him from climbing above Andre Agassi in the ATP rankings.

Roddick earned his chance to atone for his disappointment after losing in last year’s Canadian Masters final and will now meet David Nalbandian for the title after the Argentinian defeated Rainer Schuettler.

“I don’t feel like I am playing hot. But I feel like I am playing solidly and I haven’t had that feeling before,” said Roddick.

The 20-year-old American had to recover from missing three break points early in the second set and then had to come back from 4-2 down in the final set before surviving a nervy, sudden-death tie-breaker.

Roddick won because he struck some great forehands – including from wide on the backhand side – and came to the net more than he had against Federer when he was defeated at Wimbledon.

Even so for much of the second half of the match it seemed Federer’s more complete game might help him keep his 100 per cent record against the American.

Instead, he served 10 double-faults, including an important one which conceded the first mini-break in the tie-break (which Roddick took 7-3).

“I don’t make calculations – but obviously I’m annoyed if I have missed a chance of becoming number one,” said Federer.

“These Masters Series are tough, almost too tough from my point of view. I don’t think they should play them back-to-back.

“To win both you have to play 12 out of 14 days – but I will go to Cincinnati (Masters) next week and see what I can do.”

Federer may well become number one anyway without winning in Cincinnati, because Agassi will not play there.

The top-seeded American has withdrawn and will lose all the points he gained for reaching the quarter-finals last year.

Federer was already top for the first time on the ATP Champions Race thanks to this week’s defeats for Juan Carlos Ferrero and Agassi.

However, Federer may well become number one on the Entry System (the 12-month moving window of results) without winning Cincinnati because Agassi will not play there.

Nalbandian reached his first Masters Series final by knocking out Germany’s Schuettler after being a set down.

The Argentinian beat the eighth seed 3-6 6-2 6-2 after a start in which it seemed he was struggling against Schuettler’s consistent counter-hitting and excellent court coverage.

But a magnificent rally in which Nalbandian made his extra weight of shot count earned him a break for 4-2 in the second set and opened the floodgates for four games in a row.

A similar breakthrough occurred at the same stage in the third set after Schuettler had had a point to break himself at two-all, 30-40 on the Nalbandian serve.

The former Wimbledon finalist saved that with a serve and a forehand which Schuettler put disappointingly into the net.

The German made a glaring error at break point in his next service game, smashing a short bouncing ball into the net to go 2-4 down, and after that there was little doubt that Nalbandian would earn his showdown with Roddick.