Roger Federer of Switzerland reacts after wining his match against Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia in the Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai, China November 15, 2005. (Reuters)

Roger Federer survived a scare against Ivan Ljubicic at the season-ending Masters Cup on Tuesday, prevailing 6-3 2-6 7-6 to close in on the semi-finals.

The world number one, who has just recovered from a six-week injury layoff , bounced back from a poor second set to make it two wins out of two at the troubled $4.45 million event in Shanghai.

Federer squandered three match points at 5-3 and 5-4 in the third before sealing victory 7-4 on a tiebreak to stay on course for a third straight Masters Cup title.

Only Ilie Nastase in 1971-73 and Ivan Lendl in 1985-87 have won three in a row.

Federer was assured of finishing the second round of matches on top of the Red Group with Argentines Guillermo Coria and David Nalbandian, who lost their openers, playing later on Tuesday.

Federer extended his winning streak to 33 matches and his mark for the year to 79-3.

The Swiss had beaten Ljubicic four times already this year, including finals in Doha, Rotterdam and Indian Wells, and he was forced to work for his fifth by the towering Croatian.

His right ankle heavily strapped, Federer's superior class told in the tiebreak, however, and he closed out the match with a fizzing backhand pass after two hours, 17 minutes.

The Masters Cup was hit by the sudden pullouts of former world Andre Agassi and French Open champion Rafael Nadal through injury on Monday.

The withdrawals were a further blow to organizers after the pre-tournament pullouts of Andy Roddick, Marat Safin and Lleyton Hewitt.

(Agencies)