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Roger Federer won a
measure of revenge and a return to the US Open semi-finals as he beat
fifth-seeded Swede Robin Soderling 6-4 6-4 7-5 on Wednesday to book his
place in the last four for a seventh successive time.

Federer, showing the
all-round brilliance that has won him a record 16 Grand Slam titles,
refused to let gusty winds at Arthur Ashe Stadium slow down his charge
as he routed Soderling, who had eliminated him in the quarter-finals at
this year’s French Open. The 29-year-old Swiss, whose string of five
consecutive US Open titles was snapped in last year’s final, commanded
his serve with power and precision through the adverse conditions to
quash Soderling in just under two hours. Federer demoralised the
big-hitting Swede, who was runner-up at the last two French Opens, by
firing in 18 aces, while Soderling could only muster two as he went down
meekly on a cold, windy New York night. The Swiss master said figuring
out how to deal with conditions was simply part of his job description.

Serving in the wind

“I’ve practised my
serve my whole career,” said Federer, who put 64 per cent of his first
serves in play and won 86 per cent of them. “If I can’t serve in the
wind I’ve got a problem. “You can wake me up at 2:00 in the morning or
4:00 in the morning I can hit serves.

It’s what we do.”
Soderling, who lost his first 12 matches against Federer before beating
him at Roland Garros, was full of praise for his opponent. “He’s a good
wind player,” the 26-year-old Soderling said. “He moves really well.
He’s always in the right place.” On Federer’s serving, he said: “He was
brushing the lines with his first serves which is not easy.” Soderling
squandered some early chances to get ahead, letting three break points
slip away in Federer’s first service game and then another one before
the second seed used a deft drop shot to break in the seventh game and
served out the opening set.

Federer took the decisive break of the second set in the fifth game.
Soderling came alive in the third set, hitting out more powerfully and
hustling around to engage the Swiss in rallies and broke for a 5-3 lead
after three Federer errors. But serving for the set, Soderling’s big
forehand let him down when he dumped two forehands into the net to give
the break right back. Federer then ran off the next three games, closing
with a bullet ace out wide. Next up for the second-seeded Federer will
be third seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia, who beat France’s Gael Monfils
to advance. Federer beat Djokovic in the Flushing Meadows final in 2007
and in the semi-finals the last two years. “He’s obviously looking for
that big breakthrough here in the Open, so it’s going to be a tough
one,” Federer added.