Roger Federer of Switzerland hits a return to Andy Roddick of the U.S during their match at the Masters Cup tennis tournament in Shanghai, Tuesday, Nov.14, 2006. Nov. 15 - World number one Roger Federer survived a three match point scare to keep his perfect record in Masters Cup round robin matches intact in a 4-6 7-6 6-4 win over a fired-up Andy Roddick on Tuesday.
American Roddick served as only he can to hustle Federer out of his comfort zone and win the first set before earning three match points in a thrilling second-set tiebreak, forcing the Swiss to come back from 4-1 down to win 10-8.
"Early on in the tiebreak already when I was down 4-1 and him serving I thought, well, probably not my day, I'm not playing that great and he's not giving me a chance, so I guess that's it," said Federer.
"But I told myself maybe I can make him nervous by just staying along and in the match ... but it was really close, that's for sure."
After the 2003 and 2004 champion virtually assured his passage to the semi-finals, Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic kept his hopes alive with a 5-7 7-6 7-5 victory over Argentina's 2005 champion David Nalbandian.
All four players in the Red Group still have a chance of reaching the semi-finals but Roddick described his eighth successive defeat by Federer as "very frustrating".
"I put myself in a position to win tonight ... it's tough right now, I felt like I was unlucky not to win that one tonight," he said
The 24-year-old strode on court with a clear sense of purpose and was soon dashing to the net behind his big serves in an attempt to unsettle Federer.
Sometimes it worked and sometimes it opened him up to the nine-times grand slam winner's passing shots, which were particularly devastating from the backhand.
The American, watched by his coach Jimmy Connors, succeeded often enough to grab the first break when Federer failed in a hawk-eye appeal against a wide second serve.