Paris: Roger Federer rubber-stamped his status as one of the greatest players the world has seen with a year which was exceptional and record-shattering even by his own mighty standards.

The Swiss ended 2006 with 12 titles from 16 finals and a 92-5 match record.

He started in January with victory in Doha, ended it with a third Masters Cup in four years and, in between, won back his Australian Open title and defended his Wimbledon and US Open crowns.

At the age of 25, his career title count now stands at 45, his year's prize money of almost 8,500,000 dollars took his lifetime total to 28,576,000 and sent his rivals into a trough of despair over how to react.

And Federer's reaction to their shortcomings? He thinks it's funny.

"I had to laugh at one stage how well I was playing, I always came up with a great answer," said Federer after he swept aside James Blake in the Masters Cup final in Shanghai.

"To come to this point in my career where I feel so happy with my game, it's come such a long way," he said.

Federer played 17 tournaments in 2006 and reached the final in 16 of them.

Four of his five defeats came at the hands of rival Rafael Nadal, surpisingly on the hard courts of Dubai, but not so surprisingly on the clay of Monte Carlo, Rome and Roland Garros, the only Grand Slam the world number one has yet to crack.

Only once did he fail to reach a final when Britain's Andy Murray beat him in the second round of the Cincinnati Masters just days after a sapping march to another title in Toronto.

His 2006 roll of honour reads: Doha, the Australian Open, Indian Wells Masters, Miami Masters, Halle, Wimbledon, Toronto Masters, U.S. Open, Tokyo, Madrid Masters, Basel and the Masters Cup in Shanghai.

Federer comfortably finished 2006 as world number one for the third year in a row and will now pass Jimmy Connors's 25-year-old record of 160 consecutive weeks at the top on February 26 next year.

"I think that is definitely one of the big records I've broken, maybe the biggest so far in my career," said the Swiss

Such is his lead in the rankings that he is guaranteed to remain number one, even if he does not play again before March next year.

Even Nadal is showing signs of wilting.

The Spaniard still holds a 6-3 winning record over Federer, but the world number one has won the past two meetings - the Masters Cup semifinals and the Wimbledon final.

That would be three-in-a-row if a relaxing exhibition match in Seoul in November is factored into the equation.

Nadal picked up five titles in 2006 but after finishing runner-up to Federer at Wimbledon in July, the Spaniard has looked a spent force failing to reach another final.

His mood at the All England Club wasn't helped when he ordered his lawyers to take legal action after a French newspaper linked his name to the Operation Puerta investigation probing doping allegations in Spanish cycling.

Nadal retained his French Open title edging Federer in the final but even he suspects the Swiss will be stepping up his pursuit of elusive Paris glory in 2007.

"He's the best," said Nadal.

 "That's the truth. Now I have to improve my tennis," he said.

While Federer and Nadal were looking to the future, Andre Agassi was heading into retirement.

Time finally caught up with the 36-year-old American, one of only five men to have won all four Grand Slam titles.

His last match ended in defeat at the US Open by unheralded German Benjamin Becker.

His career brought 60 titles and delivered colour and controversy into a sport often stripped of personality.

A crowd of 24,000 gave Agassi a four-minute standing ovation at Flushing Meadow and the veteran, never one to call on a bland word when a little bit of metaphysics will do just as well, was at his emotional best.

"The scoreboard said I lost today, but what the scoreboard doesn't say is what it is I've found," Agassi said.

"Over the last 21 years, I've found loyalty. You have pulled for me on the court and also in life. I have found inspiration. You have willed me to succeed sometimes even in my lowest moments," he said.

Also willed to succeed as the year ended was the ever-colourful Marat Safin who supplied the finishing touches to an emotional 3-2 win for Russia over Argentina in the Davis Cup final in Moscow.