Federer ousts Roddick in straight sets
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NEW YORK (AP) - To Andy Roddick's credit, he played nearly flawlessly against Roger Federer, serving brilliantly, returning well, too, and giving tennis' top player a tough time.
Venus beats Jankovic
Venus Williams upended No. 3 Jelena Jankovic to set up a semifinal showdown with Justine Henin. Check out what happened Wednesday in the women's draw.
To Roddick's dismay, it all added up to yet another loss.
In a match as tight as could be for 2½ sets, Federer was barely better on the most important points and emerged to edge Roddick 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4), 6-2 in the quarterfinals, moving two victories away from a fourth consecutive U.S. Open title.
"I'm not walking off with any questions in my head this time. I'm not walking with my head down," 2003 champion Roddick said after falling to 1-14 against Federer.
"I made him play as well as he can play."
Both came out wearing black shirts and shorts, Roddick adding a baseball cap, and Federer his trademark bandanna. The outfits matched and so did the level of play, right down until late in the third set, when Federer finally earned his first break points.
Men's quarterfinals
R. Federer def. A. Roddick 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4), 6-2
N. Davydenko def. T. Haas 6-3, 6-3, 6-4
C. Moya (17) v. N. Djokovic (3), Thurs.
J. Chela (20) v. D. Ferrer (15), Thurs.
This rematch of last year's U.S. Open final was hardly the mismatch one might have expected.
"I tried to hang in there," Federer said. "It was a tough match, I thought. Andy was serving out of a tree."
That's for sure.
Banging serves consistently up to 146 mph, Roddick hit 14 aces and didn't have a single double-fault. Then again, Federer came up with 15 aces, also never double-faulted, and erased the only break point he faced, in the second set.
Both played remarkably cleanly, combining for 90 winners (48 for Federer) and only 42 unforced errors (18 for Federer).
It was riveting stuff, even if the score showed it ended in straight sets, and was the second half of a double feature in Arthur Ashe Stadium that began with Venus Williams coming back from a set and a break down to beat No. 3 Jelena Jankovic 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (4).
No. 1 Federer vs. No. 5 Roddick came down to those two tiebreakers.
With Federer ahead 5-4 in the first one, Roddick smacked a 130 mph serve that Federer got back. Roddick charged the net behind a good approach shot, but Federer flicked a cross-court backhand passing winner, leaving the American cursing.
At 6-5, Federer hit a 122 mph ace and slowly punched the air to celebrate while Roddick muttered to himself.
It was almost the same in the second tiebreaker. At 4-4, Roddick unleashed a 140 mph serve, and Federer conjured up a backhand return that put the ball right at the opposite baseline. Roddick couldn't handle it, and two points later, Federer's 128 mph service winner put him ahead by two sets — and sent many in the partisan crowd streaming for the exits.
How different things could have been.
As Federer noted, matter-of-factly: "I could have been down two sets to none."
Federer earned his first break points all evening at 3-2 in the third set. Roddick erased the first with the help of a fortuitous net-cord bounce, and he laughed a bit at his luck while trudging back to the baseline. Seconds later, his expression was far more downcast as he missed a backhand long, for the first break by either player.
Federer broke again to end the match and extend his own record by getting to a 14th consecutive Grand Slam semifinal. That's where he will meet No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko — against whom Federer is 9-0.
"I've got a pretty good record against him. Never lost," Federer said. "But let's not get ahead of ourselves."
Well, let's, if only for a moment. Should he defeat Davydenko on Saturday, Federer would add to another of his own records by making a 10th straight major final. And a victory Sunday would not only make Federer the first man since the 1920s to win the American Grand Slam four years running, it would give him 12 Grand Slam titles overall — only Pete Sampras, with 14, won more.
Does Roddick feel a bit sorry for himself, given that he happened to be born almost exactly a year after the man who may very well go down as the greatest tennis player in history?
"No," he said. "I get to play in atmospheres like that."
Well, does Roddick think he can beat Federer?
"Yeah," he said. "If I didn't, I wouldn't be out here."
He looked good early. In the match's fourth game, Roddick turned it up a notch, pounding an ace at 140 mph, a service winner at 142 mph and delivering another serve at 146 mph. Remarkably, Federer put that last one in play, an indication of just how talented a returner he is.
Roddick serve-and-volleyed at times, even on a second serve, and covered the net well, early, winning the point on six of his first eight trips forward.
All the while, his coach, five-time U.S. Open winner Jimmy Connors, sat in the front row of a guest box in a jacket and blue tie, occasionally offering encouraging yells or claps, at other times gnawing on his fingernails.
Roddick got plenty of support from a partisan sellout crowd of 23,733, a celebrity-specked audience that included Andre Agassi, the eight-time major champion who returned to the scene for the first time since retiring after last year's Open.
Davydenko, mired in the center of tennis' betting probe, reached the semifinals at Flushing Meadows for the second consecutive year by beating No. 10 Tommy Haas 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 earlier Wednesday, then again denied any involvement with gamblers and offered an explanation of what he thinks led to the red flags last month.
"I don't care what's happening out there," Davydenko said, referring to the investigation. "For me, it's more important what I do right now here."
A British online gambling company voided all bets on Davydenko's match against 87th-ranked Martin Vassallo Arguello in Poland in early August, after $7 million was wagered — 10 times the usual amount. Most of the money backed Arguello, even after Davydenko won the first set; the match went to a third set, and Davydenko quit with a foot injury.
His theory: Someone had inside information that he'd been hurting, and thought, "Sell all your houses and everything, you know, to win some money."
The Russian said his manager and the ATP are working to schedule a meeting with investigators.
Davydenko still hasn't lost a set, the only man in the tournament who can boast of that. Even Federer already had dropped two before facing Roddick.
Haas, who also lost to Davydenko in last year's Open quarterfinals, was coming off consecutive five-set victories, including against No. 6 James Blake. So perhaps the German was a tad tired. He certainly was tired of trying to figure out Davydenko.
"Every time I tried to do something different or fight my way out of it," Haas said, "he came up with an answer."
Haas grew more than a little frustrated.
When he missed a forehand volley to get broken and fall behind 4-3 in the first set, Haas flung his racket into the net. Then he picked up his equipment and whacked it against the net post. Not quite done, Haas sat down for the changeover, threw a towel, then yanked off his white baseball cap and slammed it into a nearby chair.
In the second set, Haas got into an argument with chair umpire Carlos Bernardes over a line call, yelling, "You understand what I'm saying? Don't overrule it late. Be quicker! Be quicker!"
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There was more, including when Davydenko's backhand winner earned a service break in the match's next-to-last game. Haas grabbed a ball and smacked it into the stands, drawing a warning from Bernardes.
Still at it late, Haas spiked his racket again in the final game. Two points later, the match was over, and it was Davydenko's turn to swat a ball into the stands in celebration. He was so on-target on Wednesday that he broke Haas's serve eight times and finished with 42 winners and 19 unforced errors.
"He came up with the goods today," Haas said. "I don't know how he does it. You wonder sometimes."
That type of scintillating play is really nothing new for Davydenko — part of the reason so many questions were raised when so much money was wagered against him in a match against someone so far down in the rankings.
