Federer Sets New INDESIT ATP Race Record

Roger Federer has broken his own INDESIT ATP Race record that he set last year as a result of reaching the AIG Japan Open Tennis Championships semifinals on Friday.

The ATP World No. 1 completed a hard-fought 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(3) victory over Japanese wild card Takao Suzuki to add 22 points to his current INDESIT ATP 2006 Race tally for 1,346 points.
Last year, Federer finished the season with 1,345 points breaking his 2004 record of 1,267 points.

Suzuki, who is currently No. 1078 in the INDESIT ATP Rankings, injured his shoulder in the Australian Open qualifying competition in January and only returned to the ATP circuit this week.

Federer improved his season match record to 75-5 in a little over two hours and will play No. 14 seed Benjamin Becker, who will contest his first career semifinal. Becker, currently No. 72 in the INDESIT ATP Rankings, upset fifth-seeded Benjamin Becker 6-7(5), 7-6(6), 6-4.

Second-seeded Tommy Robredo was knocked out by No. 9 seed Hyung-Taik Lee, recording his first win over the Spaniard in four career meetings.

Lee triumphed 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-1 for a place in his second ATP semifinal of the season. The result means Tommy Robredo remains at No. 7 in the INDESIT ATP 2006 Race, just one point behind No. 6 James Blake.

Lee goes on to meet No. 10 seed Tim Henman, who beat third-seeded Mario Ancic 6-2, 6-2 for the first time in three meetings. Ancic is No. 10 in the INDESIT ATP 2006 Race.

It was the Henman and Ancic's second match of the day, as rain forced matches at the Ariake Colosseum to be played under a closed roof on Centre Court for a second consecutive day.

Henman had kicked off the day's play at 9am recovering from a 4-1 first set deficit to beat Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro 7-6(3), 6-3, while Ancic overcame Rainer Schuettler 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 in third round clashes.Previously, the latest time a match finished was at 3.21 a.m. In that match at Philadelphia in 1990, Pete Sampras and Jim Courier lost a doubles match 6-4, 6-2 to Paul Chamberlin and Tim Wilkison.