Roddick Reaches Semi-finals Without Dropping A Set

Andy Roddick charged into the Sony Ericsson Open semi-finals Wednesday with a convincing 6-3, 6-3 win over Nicolas Almagro and moved within one win of back-to-back ATP World Tour Masters 1000 finals.

Roddick, who fell to Ivan Ljubicic in the Indian Wells finals two weeks ago, has not dropped a set en route to the semi-finals and saved both break points he faced against the Spaniard. The 27-year-old American will play the winner of Rafael Nadal and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the semi-finals.

Roddick, who broke Almagro three times – including in the final game of the match - won the Sony Ericsson Open title in 2004. He also reached the semi-finals in 2008 after beating Roger Federer.

Roddick leads the ATP World Tour with 24 match wins on the season and is chasing his second title of the year after winning in Brisbane in the first week of the season.
Roddick dropped just 11 points in nine service games and made just 10 unforced errors. "I felt like I played pretty clean today. Also, he's a guy who takes lots of risk himself. So you can keep it low because he's the one kind of trying to hit the lines and being the aggressor. So I played within the margins today, and hit it well."
Roddick is chasing his fourth final in six tournament appearances this year and feels that his game is in good shape. “Sometimes when you're not playing well... everything feels a little bit forced. When you play a lot of the matches and kind of play a high level, it feels like everything kind of slows down a little bit. Muscle memory takes over a little bit more, and things kind of just happen. So I think I'm at that stage right now.

“Unfortunately with tennis you have to start every day and it's a new one. You're playing well, but you still have to go out and do it every day.”