Unseeded American Mardy Fish, prevailed in a 6-3, 6-7(5), 7-6(4) nailbiter against World No. 7 David Nalbandian on Friday in Indian Wells to join the world’s top three players in the Pacific Life Open semifinals.

Fish’s reward for his win is a semifinal date with World No. 1 Roger Federer, who received a walkover earlier in the day when Tommy Haas withdrew prior to their quarterfinal match with a sinus infection. More

The last American hope appeared on the verge of exiting the draw shortly after wasting his two match points at 5-4 in the third set. Nalbandian went up a break in the next game, but also failed to close the door on his opponent as he double faulted on Fish’s fifth break point chance of the set to make it 6-all.

Both players had already posted wins in a third set tie-break to reach the quarterfinals for the first time at this event – Nalbandian going the distance in his second and third round matches against Ernests Gulbis and Radek Stepanek, respectively, and Fish in his fourth round match against two-time champion Lleyton Hewitt.

And though Nalbandian entered the decider with a 5-1 record in tie-breaks this season and Fish a 1-6 record, it was Fish who pulled through in the end. He returned a winner off of Nalbandian’s serve to earn his third match point, and then put away the win with an overhead smash.

“With someone like David's ability to come back and ability to win tight matches, that one feels just as good as [the win over] Hewitt,” said Fish, who celebrated his victory with a self-hug for the partisan crowd.

Coupled with his straight sets win over World No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko in the third round, it marked the first time in the 26-year-old’s career that he had posted victories over two Top 10 players at the same tournament. 

But he faces an uphill battle against Federer, whom he has lost to in all five of their previous career meetings, including twice at the Pacific Life Open. Federer’s last win came over Fish in the 2005 second round en route to his second of three Indian Wells titles.

“You have to walk out there and you have to feel like you can beat him,” said Fish, who entered the tournament ranked No. 98. “I feel like I can beat anybody right now. I feel like I can win tight matches against really high quality players who are really tough, in tie-breaks and third sets and things like that, and that gives you a lot of confidence.”

Fish has reached an ATP Masters Series final only once in his career, five years ago in Cincinnati, where he lost to close friend Andy Roddick in a third set tie-break despite holding two match points. In that run, he also posted a quarterfinal win over Nalbandian.

“He's always dangerous,” said Nalbandian about Fish. “On this surface, when the surface is fast, he's very dangerous all the time.”

Nalbandian was attempting to become the first player to win titles at three consecutive ATP Masters Series events. He won the Madrid and Paris titles last autumn, defeating Federer and World No. 2 Rafael Nadal at both events, and had taken his unbeaten streak at ATP Masters Series events to 15 matches before losing to Fish.