World No. 1 Roger Federer crashed out of the Pacific Life Open Masters Series on Sunday losing his second round match 7-5, 6-2 to unseeded Guillermo Canas of Argentina.
The three-time defending champion Federer was poised to make tennis history here.
He had won 41 straight ATP Tour matches, and six more would have set an ATP record of 47 consecutive wins, breaking Guillermo Vilas' record of 46, set 30 years ago.
PHOTO: AFP
Federer, who had a first-round bye, called for the trainer twice in Sunday's match, once at the end of first set and at 2-3 in the second set for an apparent foot injury.
Canas got into the 96-player men's draw as a "lucky loser" after failing to qualify for a spot.
Canas had only returned to competition in September after a 15-month controversial suspension for doping.
"Today I played very well. I had a chance and I took it," Canas said. "I have a lot of confidence in my game."
Federer wilted under the hot desert sun, never getting untracked in the one hour, 45 minute match in front of a crowd of about 15,000 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
Federer had his serve broken four times in the match, including the third game of the second set to go down 2-1.
He was also broken in the 11th game of the first set as Canas closed out the set with three straight games.
Federer hit twice as many winners as Canas (35 to 14) but made 39 unforced errors and had two double faults. He was also caught flatfooted on a number of Canas forehands.
Besides the match win streak mark, Federer had his sights on a number of other records at the Pacific Life Open.
He has 495 career match victories and would have passed the elusive 500 mark if he had reached the final here.
Canas now holds a 2-1 career win/loss record over Federer, beating him for the first time in 2002 in Toronto 7-6 (12/10), 7-5.
Canas will continue his comeback in the third round where he will face former French Open champ Carlos Moya of Spain.
Canas captured his seventh career ATP title last month in Brazil and is off to an impressive 11-2 start in 2007.
Canas had been banned after he was found to have taken the prohibited diuretic drug hydrochlorothiazide at Acapulco, Mexico in February 2005, where he was beaten by Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals.
His suspension was cut to 15 months after he argued that the substance was contained in medication given to him by tournament officials.
The ban started in June 2005 and ended in last September.
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