Roger Federer rolls to another trip to finals

He will seek his third straight title against David Nalbandian.
SHANGHAI, China (AP) -- Roger Federer came up with a first in a career that has contained almost everything in tennis.
The two-time defending champion warmed up for his third consecutive Tennis Masters Cup final with a 6-0, 6-0 rout of Gaston Gaudio in Saturday's semifinals and will play for the title against David Nalbandian.
This was Federer's first love-and-love victory and the first at the year-ending championships, which began in 1970.
"I think it's nice to have, but no more than that," he said.
The top-seeded Swiss star showed little emotion as he walked slowly to the net to shake hands with Gaudio, the 2004 French Open winner.
With his all-time best run of 24 consecutive victories in finals, Federer is a big favorite to beat Nalbandian, another Argentine, in today's championship.
Nalbandian defeated fifth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko 6-0, 7-5 in the other semifinal.
First shutout loss
Gaudio, seeded seventh, said he'd never lost by such a score. A "double bagel" -- as it's called in tennis parlance -- is rare. There was one on the ATP Tour in 2004 and only six in five years before that.
"There's no excuses," Gaudio said. "I was playing against a guy who is the best in history on a surface [where] he's so much better than me. Once in a lifetime it happens -- and it happened to me. I'm sad about it, I don't like it, but there's worse things that can happen."
Federer's emphatic victory restored some dynamic to the season-ending tournament after a week marred by injuries and withdrawals.
It also exposed the lack of competition -- four of the top five players and Australian Open champion Marat Safin withdrew either before or at the start of the tournament.
Was sidelined by injury
Federer, who had been sidelined six weeks because of an injured right ankle, hobbled into Shanghai thinking he'd be the most likely to withdraw.
"I definitely felt a little bit of pressure," he said. "That I've made it so far now I think is maybe great for the tournament -- I hope so. For myself, I think even more."
Second-ranked Rafael Nadal, the last player to beat Federer -- at the French Open semifinals in June -- and No. 5-ranked Andre Agassi pulled out Monday because of injuries.
"All of a sudden, I felt a little bit left alone," Federer said. "I was like, 'Well, I better win a match here."
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