Mardy lands big fish in Federer

BEIJING, March 24 -- World No. 1 Roger Federer was stunned by unseeded American Mardy Fish after Rafael Nadal's Pacific Life Open title defense came to an abrupt halt in Saturday's semifinals.

Federer lost to an American player for the first time in 42 matches when he was crushed 3-6, 2-6 by Fish in a match lasting just over an hour at Indian Wells Tennis Garden in California.

Fish, who had never beaten Federer in five previous meetings, outplayed the Swiss on a sun-drenched afternoon to book a place in the final against third-seeded Serb Novak Djokovic.

Australian Open champion Djokovic swept aside second-seeded Spaniard Nadal 6-3, 6-2 in an earlier match on the showpiece Stadium Court.

"It feels pretty good," Fish, 26, said in a courtside interview after an aggressive display featuring 28 winners and seven aces. "I couldn't have dreamed up a better scenario than that.

Ranked 98th in the world, Fish set the tone for the biggest win of his career by breaking Federer in the second game before sweeping through the opening set in 34 minutes.

With Federer strangely out-of-sorts and Fish in prime form, the American again broke in the first and fifth games of the second before serving out to secure victory in the eighth.

Earlier, Djokovic, 20, broke Nadal twice in each set to secure victory in one hour 28 minutes.

In a repeat of last year's final, left-hander Nadal broke in the third game of the opening set when Djokovic hit a forehand long but the Serb broke back to level at 2-2.

A protracted seventh game featuring several rallies of high quality finally ended in another break by the Serb when Nadal netted a poor attempt at a drop shot to trail 2-5.

Djokovic calmly served out to seal victory before raising his right arm skywards to pump the air in celebration.

"I played really well and tactically I played really smart," the Serb said. "I knew that I had to be aggressive, take control of the match and try to go for the shots, which I did."

Nadal beat Djokovic 6-2, 7-5 in last year's final.