Fish-net stalking stops Federer

Wither Roger Federer?

The briefest of glances -- Federer’s winning a mere five games against the 98th-ranked player in the world Saturday in the Pacific Life Open -- might suggest the answer is, well, yes.

But the yes is not nearly so unequivocal when the identity of No. 98 is revealed: Mardy Fish, launcher of a thousand water-related puns and owner of an Olympic silver medal from 2004 Summer Games in Athens.

Fish unveiled an audacious game plan -- going for broke and taking the ball on the rise -- and was so dominating that his 6-3, 6-2 semifinal victory left the top-seeded Federer wanting, and the stunned crowd of 16,870 at Indian Wells Tennis Garden wanting more after the 1-hour 3-minute match.

More will come today in the final against No. 3 Novak Djokovic, whose score line against No. 2 Rafael Nadal was equally one-sided in the earlier semifinal. But his 6-3, 6-2 victory over a somewhat slowed Nadal, who needed treatment for a painful toenail, took a bit longer, lasting 1:27, and actually featured extended rallies.

Djokovic is 1-0 against Fish,a four-set victory at the 2006 U.S. Open.

“He’s a really difficult opponent to play against,” Djokovic said. “No expectations for him. He’s just going to go for his shots probably and be aggressive.”

So much for the cozy stranglehold Federer and Nadal used to have on tournament titles. They will go into Miami not having won a championship in 2008. But it looms larger for Federer because Nadal will be heading into his best part of the year after Miami, the clay-court season.

Still, Fish, who has defeated three players in the top 10 here, dismissed the concept of a newly vulnerable Federer.

“No. I mean, to answer your question, brutally honest, no,” said Fish, who had won only one set against Federer in their previous five meetings. “We just kind of laugh at it. We just kind of think it’s kind of a joke, ‘Oh, my gosh, Roger hasn’t won a tournament yet this year.’ You know, he’s only played two tournaments. You know, semifinals while he had mono is pretty good.”

That was at the Australian Open, where he lost to Djokovic in straight sets. Following that was a loss in his opening match in Dubai, to Andy Murray. Having received a walkover into the semifinals because of Tommy Haas’ illness, Federer seemed caught off guard by Fish’s “dream start.”

Fish led, 3-0, in the first set and 3-1 in the second and never eased up. He hit 26 winners to Federer’s 14. Quirky stat of the day: Nadal and Federer combined for one backhand winner.

“I couldn’t do much today, and these matches sometimes come around,” Federer said. “I’m surprised myself it hasn’t happened more in the last five years. You always think one guy can outright dominate you on any given day. People weren’t able to do it against me, so that speaks for myself. But today Mardy was really impossible to beat, it almost looked like. He was never in doubt.”

Federer had a 41-match winning streak against Americans -- he probably enjoyed playing them as much as Frenchmen. But he did not consider this a loss to a garden-variety No. 98; after all, Fish was once ranked as high as No. 17.

“We know how good Mardy can be,” Federer said. “Let’s not talk about 98 in the world.”

Fish got off a good line when he was asked whether he could think of another upset in tennis history that compared to this one. “I don’t think I’m that bad,” he said.

He has long lingered in the shadows of his buddies Andy Roddick and James Blake.

“I’ve always been the hunter almost my whole career,” he said. “I felt like I was always capable of beating everybody, but it was always here and there. Putting together these wins this week gives me a lot of confidence to know that I can beat three guys in the top 10, so far, and hopefully one more to go.”

[email protected]

--

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Featured matches

Today at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden:

WOMEN’S SINGLES FINAL STADIUM COURT, starting at noon

* Ana Ivanovic, Serbia, vs.

Svetlana Kuznetsova, Russia

MEN’S SINGLES FINAL STADIUM COURT, not before 2 p.m.

* Novak Djokovic, Serbia, vs.

Mardy Fish