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Federer reaches 18th straight Grand Slam semi

Thu 4th, September 2008

Flushing Meadows, NY (Sports Network) - Reigning four-time champion Roger Federer was a hard-fought quarterfinal winner Thursday at the U.S. Open. The Swiss superstar will now play in his record 18th straight major semifinal.

The second-seeded former world No. 1 Federer held off qualifier Gilles Muller of Luxembourg 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) on Day 11 on the hardcourts at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

Federer took the first set via tiebreak against the 6-foot-5 big-serving Muller, as neither player was able to record a service break in the opening stanza.

In the second set, the Swiss would assume control of the bout by registering the first, and only, break of the match for a 5-4 lead and then closed out the stanza with a hold for a commanding two-sets-to-love advantage.

The third set went to another tiebreak, which Federer captured by winning five of the last six points. He converted on his first match point when a game Muller netted one final backhand.

Muller swatted 16 aces in the 2-hour, 26-minute affair.

Federer is now 3-0 lifetime against the 130th-ranked Muller, with their previous two meetings coming in 2005.

The upstart 25-year-old Muller upset fifth-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko, 18th-seeded Spaniard Nicolas Almagro and former top-10 star Tommy Haas at this Big Apple fortnight. He overcame two-sets-to-love deficits against both the German Haas and Almagro.

The 12-time major titlist Federer beat Serbian star Novak Djokovic in last year's finale in New York and has now won his last 32 matches here.

Federer was this year's Wimbledon and French Open runner-up to Spanish stalwart Rafael Nadal, who supplanted the Swiss atop the men's rankings last month.

The 27-year-old Federer's semifinal opponent on Saturday will be a third- seeded Djokovic or eighth-seeded American Andy Roddick, the former No. 1 who titled here back in 2003. The Australian Open champion Djokovic and Roddick will do battle here on Thursday night.

Djokovic and Roddick have split their two previous meetings on the ATP circuit, but Roddick is 1-0 this year, with the victory coming in a hardcourt semifinal in Dubai.

Saturday's other semi will pit the five-time major champion Nadal against sixth-seeded Brit Andy Murray, as those two men won their quarterfinal matches here on Wednesday. The 21-year-old Murray will appear in his first-ever Grand Slam semi.