World number one Roger Federer scraped past sixth-seeded Croat Ivan Ljubicic after winning three tiebreak sets to claim his second consecutive Miami title and fourth title of the year. The Swiss star, who also defended his Indian Wells title last month, captured the first set with a tiebreak in 59 minutes and gained an early service break in the second before Ljubicic leveled back and forced another tiebreak. The seven-time Grand Slam champion powered through the following two sets as he came back from 1-4 down in the second set tiebreak and recovered a break in the third set to complete his tenth career victory over Ljubicic, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4), 7-6 (6). "I thought it was tough today. I mean, first and second serve, you know, he was going for big serves, great variation and so on,” Federer was quoted as saying by the tournament's official website. “He made me work extremely hard. I sort of expected it, you know, but obviously three tiebreakers is the most extreme." The title is the tenth Masters Series triumph for Federer, who split eight out of nine Masters Series shields with Rafael Nadal last season. “I really thought he (Ljubicic) served way better than he did in Indian Wells and I think that was the big difference why it was so close. He could have pushed me, obviously, way further if he would have maybe played a little better on the big points, like in the tiebreakers,” added Federer. Ljubicic, who also lost to the 24-year-old Swiss at the Indian Wells quarter-finals last month, had not been quite lucky in Masters Series finals as he fell to Nadal at the Madrid Masters after leading 2 sets to none and suffered a similar scenario against Tomas Berdych at the Paris Masters last November. “The moment like ten seconds after the match, you are mad because you think you were close, but after a week I'm gonna be proud of the way I played and the fact that I was close," said Ljubicic, whose runner-up achievement has earned him a spot in the world's top five for the first time in his career. The 27-year-old Croatian is experiencing an excellent 2006 season so far, with two titles in Chennai and Zagreb and quarter-final appearances at the Australian Open, Marseille, alongside his impressive runs at Indian Wells and Miami.
