WHEN ANDY Roddick beat Roger Federer for only the second time in Miami last year, he suggested the law of statistics had finally worked in his favour: “Roger hadn’t missed a ball against me for about six years.”
He missed very few again in the Rod Laver Arena against the American yesterday, winning 6-2, 7-5, 7-5 to reach his 18th grand slam final and set up a chance to equal Pete Sampras’s all-time record of 14 major titles.
He will face either Rafael Nadal or Fernando Verdasco, who meet in the second semi-final.
Federer has beaten Roddick more times than any other player – this was his 16th victory out of 18.
“I came in under a bit of pressure having lost to Andy last time and he was playing well,” Federer said.
The only time Federer has looked vulnerable over the last 11 days was when Tomas Berdych applied the hammer for a couple of sets before the Czech gulped for air. It remains strange to talk about the Swiss as the world number two given his extraordinary record.
On Sunday evening he will play in his 14th slam final out of the last 15, of which he has won nine.
Roddick was around when Sampras achieved the record.
“Everybody was saying what a lofty achievement it was,” he said. “Little did we realise Roger was about to go after it. It feels like my childhood was Pete and my grown-up life is Roger.
“He plays effortlessly and he moves effortlessly. I’m not going to say anything new or revolutionary by saying how talented and what an incredible player he is.”
Roddick believes Federer will be a tough man to beat in Sunday’s final if he serves as well as he did during their match.
He sent down double the number of aces (16) as the big-serving American seventh seed, had 66 per cent of first serves in and won 83 per cent of the points on his first serve.
“For some reason he seems to serve pretty well against me. I think it was up around maybe 70 per cent first serves, which is just high for him. He’s not really up in that area a lot. So when he does that, it makes it pretty tough,” Roddick said.
“I think if Roger serves the way he did tonight it’s going to be real tough for anyone to beat him.”
Federer broke the Roddick serve twice on the way to winning the first set and felt that had set the tone for the match, even though the American responded well to push him harder in the remaining sets.
"I had a couple of good games where I served really well in the first set, and that gave me a lot of confidence going into the second one," said the Swiss star. Guardian Serrvice
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