Could Guillermo Canas be the Rafael Nadal of 2007? A Miami final between the two could be in the offing.

Click here for more on Canas' win against Federer at Indian Wells. Click here to find out where Canas has suddenly reappeared from.

By Kamakshi Tandon

It will be a long time before Roger Federer forgets the sight of that swing volley hitting the net. Making unearthly winners seem routine has been Federer’s habit over the last couple of years, but at that moment he looked decidedly human, missing the ambitious attempt and putting Guillermo Canas within one point of defeating him for the second time in a row.

“It’s a tough shot to hit. I guess at 15-0 and 1-0 in the first set that's not a problem, but it was tough,” said Federer. “It was getting into the night... and it kind of made it a bit tricky and I messed it up.”

Canas made no such mistake when he reached match point on his serve in the third-set tiebreak, hitting a service winner to complete a memorable 7-6(2), 2-6, 7-6(5) win over one of the most dominant No. 1s in the history of men’s tennis. Canas now plays Tommy Robredo in the quarterfinals of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami.

Any Federer loss is remarkable these days, but this one even more so because it was Canas who took out Federer during his opening match at Indian Wells two weeks ago. Other than his losses to Rafael Nadal in three consecutive events during the first half of 2006, Federer has not lost to the same player in back-to-back events since 2003.

“I think today was better than last week because I think that he played better tennis, too, and it was a great match,” said Canas, who now holds a 3-1 head-to-head against Federer.

“I was really happy with my level of play. I thought it was a great match, so it was disappointing to lose, of course,” said Federer, though he looked far more frustrated with Tuesday’s loss than he had at Indian Wells.

The entertaining encounter was potentially also a significant one, representing one of the very few times in recent memory that Federer has let a winning lead slip from his grasp – and those too have come against Nadal. In the final of Rome last year, Federer was up 4-1 in the fifth set and had two match points against Nadal but eventually lost the match. In the final of the French Open a few weeks later, Federer lost only one game in the first set but ultimately fell in four.

Could Canas be the Nadal of 2007? Their games are not identical and Canas is not a leftie like Nadal, but both players have supreme defensive skills that make then so effective on their favored clay, together with the ball-striking ability to end points on their terms as well.

Federer is now openly admitting that a title in Paris is his major target this year. It would give him a career Grand Slam and leaving him holding all four Grand Slam titles at once. “That is obviously the huge goal for me. Since the Australian Open everything has been planned down so I play well at the French Open,” said Federer.

Nadal had already been marked down as a huge obstacle to that goal, and now Canas is looming as a major threat on the clay as well. The two could meet in in the final here, which would be highly anticipated as a possible prelude for the next couple of months.

For that to happen, Canas will have to follow up better than he did after defeating Federer at Indian Wells, where he fell in the next round to Carlos Moya. He is determined to refocus better this time. “Last week when I beat Roger, it was a surprise for me because it was like I win the big tournament. Everybody want to interview me and it was great, but it was a surprise,” he said. “Now this is my second time.  I'm very happy, but I try to be focused on the tournament... I want to continue winning in this tournament.”

Overall, Canas is confident about his potential this season. While working his way through qualifying at Indian Wells, he was already thinking about walking away with the title at Miami, and has big if unspoken dreams about the French Open. At Sydney, his fellow players were laying bets on whether the then 106-ranked Argentine would be seeded for the French Open. Now, with Canas at 55 and rising fast, they may be wondering about his odds of also derailing Federer’s French Open ambitions this year.

If he can continue in this vein, Canas' biggest challenge in the next few months may be simply sheer exhaustion. Returning from a 15-month doping suspension in September, he has played 58 matches, posting a 51-7 record. His comeback was done the hard way, not with numerous wildcards into big tournaments but through playing qualifying at challenger events and working his way up to tour level.

He said that his Spanish-speaking colleagues have been supportive, but other players, including Federer, have not sounded as sympathetic about the circumstances surrounding his enforced absence from the tour. Canas’ original two-year suspension was cut to 15 months after an appeals tribunal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that he had ingested a banned substance inadvertently (more details).

If Canas and Federer do meet again on clay, Canas will not only have the advantage of playing on his preferred turf but also the knowledge that he is one of the few players who can now affect Federer psychologically.

The normally unflappable Swiss blinked several times in Tuesday's match, going down an early break despite being determined to get off to a good start, and playing a poor tiebreak after showing some flashes of form in the previous few games.

After losing the first set, Federer lifted his game and appeared to be in control after easily winning the second set and going up a break in the third. At 2-0, he had four break points – virtually match points – for a double break lead, but Canas wriggled free and then took advantage of a sloppy game from Federer at 3-2 to suddenly find himself right back in the match.

“I should have been up double break and then things are routine after that,” said Federer, ruing his missed chances. He finished with 51 unforced errors to Canas’ 15, though as at Indian Wells, Federer felt the stats overstated the number.

Still, coming close will give Federer more confidence for their next meeting than not coming close at all. “I was really expecting myself to win tonight, but it's one of those matches I should have never lost,” he said.

Canas described himself as “lucky” – “I feel I played great tennis, but he played better than me,” he said.

With the win, Canas goes one better than his coach Gaston Etlis, who also reached the fourth round here as a qualifier. Etlis, who began working with Canas in July, was more surprised by today’s result than at Indian Wells. “I knew it is going to be more difficult here than first round at Indian Wells,” he said. “Federer is going to be ready, and the court is a little bit slower here than Indian Wells... When it went to the third set, I thought that would be difficult.”

He was just as surprised as the gasping crowed when Federer missed the swing volley in the tiebreak. “I wasn’t expecting that,” he said. “But he’s human too, he can miss.”

Until Canas provided the double reminder, many had started to wonder. Now hope springs anew in the locker room.