SHANGHAI : David Nalbandian pulled off an enormous upset on Sunday when he came from two sets down to win the Masters Cup against struggling world No. 1 Roger Federer in a nail-biting five-set final.

Nalbandian, seemingly out of it after losing two tie-breakers, outlasted the two-time defending champion to win 6-7(4), 6-7 (11), 6-2, 6-1, 7-6(3) after four hours and 33 minutes.

He becomes the first Argentine to win a year-ending tournament since Guillermo Vilas in 1974 .Masters Federer took the first two sets before fading, calling the trainer in the fourth. But he rallied and was serving for the match at 6-5 before Nalbandian forced the tie-breaker.

It ends Federer's 35-match winning streak and stops him one win short of equalling John McEnroe's 1984 record winning percentage of 96.5.

Federer was broken in the first game before being taken to an opening-set tie-breaker, finding two aces and a big slice of luck as he took the lead with a net cord.

All over but...

He won a marathon second-set tie-break 13-11 after being helped back into it by a bad call at 3-5 down, but was blown away in the third 6-2.

The Swiss called for attention to his left thigh as he went 2-1 down in the fourth but continued to struggle as he lost the set 6-1.

It was apparently all over in the fifth as Federer went 1-4 down and wasted two break points at 2-4.

But the Wimbledon and U.S. Open champion, who had won his last 24 finals, conjured a break for 3-4 to raise tensions at Qi Zhong Stadium to fever pitch.

However, Nalbandian bounced a volley off the net to hold and broke back at 6-5 to force the tie-breaker, converting his first match point as Federer found the net.

An exhausted Nalbandian collapsed to the floor as the stadium erupted. It is the first major win for the world No. 12, who has just one title this year and three in his career. It was only Federer's second defeat in four Masters Cup campaigns going back to the 2002 semifinal against Lleyton Hewitt. He had been in line for the first year-ending hat-trick since Ivan Lendl in 1985-1987.

It was also his first defeat in 16 matches against Argentines.

The victory takes Nalbandian to 6-4 against Federer, one of the few winning records against the world number one.

First Gallic triumph

Earlier, the sixth-seeded pairing of Michael Llodra and Fabrice Santoro beat Leander Paes and Nenad Zimonjic 6-7(6), 6-3, 7-6(4) to become the first all-French pair to win the doubles title at the year-ending championships. Paes had reached three previous Masters Cups doubles finals with compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi, but still has never won the year-end title. — Agencies

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