Key Biscayne, April 1:

Even with one brief lapse, Roger Federer needed only 59 minutes to beat David Ferrer 6-1, 6-4 and reach the Nasdaq-100 Open final on Friday. The result was hardly a surprise: Federer has advanced to the final in his past 11 tournaments, the longest such men’s streak since John McEnroe made 12 consecutive finals in 1984.

Federer will bid for his second successive Key Biscayne title on Sunday against sixth-seeded Ivan Ljubicic, a Croat who advanced to his first final in the United States by beating No 3 David Nalbandian 6-1, 6-2.

Federer has won his past six meetings against Ljubicic, although three times they split sets. Overall Federer leads 9-3. Ljubicic is the first Croat to reach the men’s final since Goran Ivanisevic in 1996.

The women’s final on Saturday will be an all-Russian matchup between No 4 seed Maria Sharapova and No 12 Svetlana Kuznetsova, each bidding for her first Key Biscayne title.

Ferrer was coming off a win over Andy Roddick in the quarterfinals, but Federer quickly cooled him off, taking the opening set in 18 minutes. A flurry of errors then put Federer in a 3-0 hole to start the second set.

The lapse didn’t last long. Federer rallied to win the next five games with a typically vast array of winners. Federer improved his match record to 27-1 this year and extended his record winning streak in the ATP Masters Series to 23 matches.

Ljubicic was nearly as dominant in his semifinal win. Bidding for his first Masters Series title at age 27, he lost only five points on his serve. Ljubicic hit 12 aces and faced no break points.

Nalbandian played nearly flawless tennis in his quarterfinal victory over Mario Ancic, but he struggled from the start against Ljubicic. Ljubicic improved to 25-3 this year and ranks second in victories to Federer. If he wins the title, he’ll climb to fourth in the rankings.