Mardy gras time at Indian Wells as Fish fries Federer

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It was the second-worst defeat for the top-seeded Swiss superstar since he climbed atop the world rankings 215 weeks ago.

Stunner: Mardy Fish beat Wolrd No1 Roger Federer

Ranked number 98 in the world, the unseeded Fish claimed his fifth consecutive upset at this event to earn a spot in tonight's championship match against Novak Djokovic.

Federer had not lost to a player so low in the rankings since falling to Richard Gasquet (number 108) at Monte Carlo in 2005.

A three-time champion at this hardcourt event from 2004-06, Federer had a 41-match winning streak against Americans broken by Fish, who beat the 12-time Grand Slam champion for the first time in six career meetings.

The 26-year-old Federer had not lost to an American player since falling to Andy Roddick in August 2003. Federer had won 11 of 12 previous career sets against Fish entering the match.

Djokovic advanced to the final courtesy of a straight-sets rout of Rafael Nadal.

The third-seeded Djokovic lost to Nadal in the final here last year, also in straight sets.

But Djokovic returned the favour in last night's semi-final, rolling to a 6-3 6-2 win over the second-seeded Spaniard.

Federer was fulsome in his praise of Fish's performance.

"I have a great record against him and I have always controlled matches against him," said the Swiss on www.bbc.co.uk.

"Today was different, a tough result. He came up playing very, very well.

"He took everything on the rise and hit winners. I just couldn't get to his second serve and that was the disappointing part of today."

Fish, meanwhile, admitted his stunning form this week has given him the confidence to overcome the final hurdle in lifting his maiden career ATP Masters title when he meets Djokovic.

"I've always been the hunter almost my whole career, and I felt like I was always capable of beating everybody, but it was always here and there. It was always sporadically," said Fish.

"Putting together these wins this week gives me a heck of a lot of confidence to know that I can beat three guys in the top 10 so far, and hopefully one more to go."