In Sunday's final, he will take on Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic, the man he beat to take the Rotterdam title last weekend.

"I could have made a few more second serve returns and a few less errors, but this was more about him, not me, out there tonight," said Agassi.

"When he got that second break of serve in the second set there was nothing I could do."

Federer achieved that break with a wonder shot, a winning backhand lob played in full retreat and with his back to the net, and projected over Agassi's head with an instinctive flick.

It earned the defending champion the biggest roar of the night, and although Agassi has been the most popular player in the tournament by far, the crowd had to settle for applauding the magnificence of Federer during the one-sided last few games.

After breaking serve for 5-3 in the first set and closing it out quickly, he started timing the ball much better and his level shot up frighteningly.

Balls which had previously been containable now went for winners, and the longer his lead got, the more Federer was able to take liberties with his shot selection.

"I thought I could raise my game when it was important," said Federer. "But I didn't expect anyhting like this today.

"The way I had been playing, I was really struggling with my rhythm, and I thought against Andre it would be hard. To pull of such a magnificent match was special for me."

Although nearly 35 years old, and forced by rain delays to play twice in a day, Agassi claimed there was nothing wrong with either his energy levels or his physical condition.

Earlier in the day he had disposed of Nikolay Davydenko, the sixth-seeded Russian 6-4, 7-6 although it had been a tough second set, and the feeling was that Federer used up less of his resources in disposing of another top 20 Russian, Mikhail Youzhny, 6-3, 7-5 in his delayed quarterfinal.

But Agassi said he was keen to return to Dubai, which suggested that, after achieving his first semi-final for four months, he has no intentions of retiring at the end of 2005.

"It's been an incredible week for me," he claimed.

For the second week in a row Federer will have a final against Ivan Ljubicic, who is rapidly turning into the surprise packet of the 2005 ATP Tour, and has been claiming he knows how to beat the world number one.

The big Croat had already broken into the top 20 for the first time and achieved more wins on the men's circuit than anyone else this year.

Now, with his 20th victory, a 6-4, 6-3 success over Spain's Tommy Robredo, he has reached his fourth final of the year.

"I feel like I am able to play to this level now for most of the season," said the 26-year-old Ljubicic.

"If I had played like this for just one tournament it might have felt like a miracle, but it's not.

"Everything is coming together - my game and the fact that I was married (in November). I am very calm and very good in my head as well as in my body and I have huge confidence."