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Federer streak is ended by Hrabty


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Roger Federer's long winning run has finally come to an end

CINCINNATI, Ohio -- World No.1 Roger Federer lost for the first time in 24 matches when he was beaten by Slovakian Dominik Hrabty 1-6 7-6 6-4 in the first round of the Cincinnati Masters on Tuesday.

Had he won, the Wimbledon and Australian Open champion would have equalled the 24-match winning streak set by Pete Sampras in 1999.

The 22-year-old Swiss, who beat world number two Andy Roddick in the final of the Toronto Masters on Sunday, became the quickest qualifier on Tuesday for the end of year Tennis Masters Cup in Houston after his runaway success in 2004.

As well as his two grand slams, he has also won three ATP Masters Series titles.

The loss also ends his streak of winning four consecutive tournament titles at Halle, Wimbledon, Gstaad and Toronto.

"Maybe it was one tournament too much for me," Federer said. "Im not disappointed. No one should feel sorry for me. I had a great run and now the streak has ended."

Despite the defeat, Federer leads the tour with eight titles won this year, dating back to his Australian Open win in January.

Hrbaty is ranked 21st in the world and has won three ATP titles this year.

Defending champion Roddick is favourite to win the Cincinnati title again, though he came perilously close to a first round defeat before overcoming Max Mirnyi of Belarus 6-7 7-6 6-3.

The American was a set down and trailed 5-4 in the second set tiebreaker with two Mirnyi serves to come.

However, just when Roddick seemed out of it he produced a pair of great returns of serve to turn the tiebreak back in his favour.

"He definitely could have closed me out, and at that point I felt I definitely deserved to lose," admitted the champion.

Meanwhile, fifth seed Tim Henman took advantage of Younes El Aynaoui's first appearance since the Australian Open, steamrolling the Moroccan 6-1, 6-0 in just 51 minutes.

The 64th-ranked El Aynaoui had been sidelined by a right foot injury since January, and also has been nursing a shoulder injury.

According to Henman, who underwent shoulder surgery in 2002 and offered the Moroccan some advice at the end of the match, El Aynaoui told him he re-injured the shoulder during the warm-up.

"Obviously, hes had some more trouble with his shoulder," Henman said. "You hope that he can get back 100 percent healthy."


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