American Andy Roddick clinched  the year-end world number one rankings on Wednesday after his  compatriot Andre Agassi scored a dramatic 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory  over Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero at the ATP Masters Cup in Houston.

The 21-year-old Roddick dined while Agassi fought out in a  second round match of the Blue Group in his first event since a  semi-final loss to Ferrero at the US Open.

"Andy had number one in his hands the whole week," said the  eight-time grand slam champion Agassi who only once in his long  career finished the year with the number one ranking beside his  name.

 "But, you know, glad to help ... I aim to please," said the 33- year-old, the oldest player in the draw.

Roddick said, "I'm incredibly honored to finish the year as  number one but I'm probably more proud to be the sixth American."

 "It's hard to reflect on what a year this has been but I'm  incredibly fortunate to be playing at home in the United States,"  he added.

Roddick becomes the sixth American and just the 13th player in  the history of the ATP rankings to finish the year at the top of  the rankings, joining an illustrious list of names that includes,  Bjorn Borg, Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl and Pete Sampras.

Earlier in the day, Wimbledon champion Roger Federer overcame  Argentine David Nalbandian 6-3, 6-0 to top the group standings  with a 2-0 record.

Agassi and Nalbandian sit second with identical records and the winner of their match on Friday will advance to the last four  along with Federer.

Ferrero slipped to 0-2 with one round-robin match to play and  is out of the tournament.

Red Group play continues on Thursday with Roddick facing Rainer Schuettler and Carlos Moya battling Guillermo Coria.

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