Federer And Roddick Move Onto Semifinals At Australian Open

Sports News - January 25th, 2010 - Written By Bryan

Both Roger Federer and Andy Roddick secured their reservations for the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, but the manner in which they did were vastly different. Federer faced Lleyton Hewitt in his fourth-round match up and won in straight sets. Roddick meanwhile, played 2007 Australian Open finalist Fernado Gonzalez in the fourth-round, and was pushed to five-sets, before asserting himself.

Federer extended his streak to 15 consecutive victories over Hewitt, in his dominating 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 victory. The world's top-ranked player has not loss to Hewitt since 2003, in a Davis Cup match.

The familiarity between the two players is there, as they have played each other on 25 occasions. Federer holds a 17-8 advantage, following the fourth-round win.

"When I saw the draw and saw Lleyton floating around, it's not something I like to see," Federer remarked after the match.

While Federer might not like the idea of a match up with Hewitt, the Swiss star answered the challenge, and demonstrated why he is the top player in the sport today.

"Hardly made any unforced errors," Federer said in a post-round interview. "If there were some, they were at moments I can live with. I was really able to press on the offensive, serve well when I had to, and I moved well as well. Overall I'm extremely happy."

His opponent concurred with Federer's assessment.

"He hit the ball extremely clean, and I just couldn't get into his service games, which made it tough," Hewitt said afterward.

Federer moves on to face Nikolay Davydenko in a quarterfinal match up. He is an asserted favorite according to the Tennis Betting Lines at Bodog sports book. Oddsmakers have installed him as a -275 favorite to defeat Davydenko. Davydenko assumes the underdog role, odds currently at +200.

As smooth as it went for Federer, it was rough and jagged for Roddick.

The American survived a grueling five set match, defeating Gonzalez 6-3, 3-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.

"I got a little lucky tonight, but sometimes it's better to be lucky than good," Roddick remarked after the win.

Roddick has not won a major since the 2003 U.S Open, and hopes that this years Australian Open is the one that sparks his resurgence.

In his fourth round match, Roddick faced elimination after dropping sets two, and three. Gonzalez fought hard to thwart the comeback attempt, but Roddick was able to take the fourth set in the 12th game, winning 7-5. The victory in the fourth set breathed new life into the American, and Roddick cruised in the fifth, winning 6-2.

"When Fernando gets hot, you know that a lot of the match is out of your control," Roddick remarked in his post-round interview. "I think the thing that helped me was being able to serve through."

Roddick moves onto a quarterfinal match up against Marin Cilic. He is a slight favorite to win and move to the semi-finals according to Tennis Betting Lines found at Bodog. Oddsmakers have him listed as a -180 favorite. Cilic sits as the underdog with odds at +140.