Federer to meet Djokovic

11 September, 2009 14:08:00

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“It feels great" , said fourth seed Djokovic.

Roger Federer had a tougher fight than might have been expected at the U.S. Open on Wednesday before progressing to his 22nd straight Grand Slam semifinal. The top-ranked Swiss came out with a 6-0, 6-3, 6-7(6), 7-6(6) victory over No.12 Robin Soderling of Sweden that extended his streak to 39 straight wins at the U.S. Open.

“Not what I aimed for, that’s for sure,” Federer said of his semifinal streak. “It’s probably one of the greatest records for me, personally, in my career.

Federer will play No. 4 Novak Djokovic in the semifinals, after the Serb’s 7-6(2), 1-6, 7-5, 6-2 win over Spaniard Fernando Verdasco.

Djokovic moved into the last four at the U.S. Open for the third straight year. In 2007 he reached the final but lost to Federer, then last year he was beaten by the same man in the semifinals. Now he gets another chance to finally beat his Flushing Meadows nemesis.

“It feels great,” said fourth seed Djokovic. “Mentally it was very important for me to overcome today’s challenge and to be able to win and to get to the semifinals (for the) first time in the grand slams in 2009.

In the women’s quarterfinals, Wednesday, the impressive run of 17-year-old American Melanie Oudin came to an end at the hands of Caroline Wozniacki, with the No.9 seed becoming the first Danish woman to reach a Grand Slam semifinal. Wozniacki won 6-2, 6-2. “I’ve had a great run this tournament,” said the 17-year-old Oudin. “I’m a perfectionist, so...losing isn’t good enough for me. Today I was a little bit fragile.”

Against Wozniacki — a 19-year-old who has won more matches than anyone on the tour this year — Oudin faced a carbon copy of herself, harrying to get every ball back into play.

While Oudin was able to fight back from deficits to beat the likes of Elena Dementieva and Maria Sharapova in earlier rounds, Wozniacki was a tougher nut to crack.

“She plays incredible defence,” Oudin said. “Makes me hit a thousand balls and really is a really great player. I mean, I don’t know what else I could have done.”

Wozniacki will face 50th-ranked Yanina Wickmayer in an unexpected semifinal, with the winner going up against either Serena Williams or Kim Clijsters in the final.

Belgian Wickmayer put our Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine 7-5, 6-4 in her quarterfinal encounter.