Federer Handles Wind & Soderling

© Getty ImagesRoger Federer is chasing a sixth US Open title.

Roger Federer mastered the wind and Robin Soderling at Flushing Meadows Wednesday night to set up a semi-final showdown with World No. 2 Novak Djokovic. Chasing a seventh consecutive appearance in the US Open final, Federer will look for a fourth win in the past four Opens against Djokovic, whom he defeated in straight sets in the same round one year ago.

As wind frustrated players for the fourth straight day in New York, Federer adapted much better to the conditions than Soderling, who early in his career was known as an indoor specialist.  The respective ace counts best reflected how the players fared. Federer, with his clinically efficient service motion, fired 18 aces; Soderling, with his high toss and brute power, managed just two.

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Federer will hope that last night's slice of history repeating itself continues in his next match. In 2009 Federer defeated Soderling (albeit it in four sets) in the quarter-finals before continuing on to beat Djokovic in straight sets in the semis - and hitting his memorable winning 'tweener to boot.

And while Federer had high praise for Djokovic when asked to look ahead to the meeting, he concluded with a gentle reminder that the Serb did not have history on his side against him in New York: “This obviously is his best surface… kind of a faster hard court, because he can pick up some incredible balls, half volley them, redirect them.  It helps his serve a bit more and on the return he can zone in a bit. But for the last three or four years he's gone through me and he hasn't been able to get it done.”

Soderling started strongly Wednesday night, earning three break points in Federer's first service game and another chance in the Swiss' third service game. But all four went unconverted. And when he finally did break (to get back on serve at 2-2 in the second set) Soderling wasted the opportunity. Serving in the following game, he dumped an easy bounce overhead from inside the service line into the net and saw his 40/0 lead quickly evaporate and Federer break again.

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Soderling appeared set to take the match to a fourth set when he broke Federer for the second time in the match for a 5-3 lead late in the third set. But Federer responded with back-to-back breaks of his own to wrest the advantage and seal victory.

In very blustery conditions Federer's serve was outstanding. He made 64 percent of first serves - a great result given the wind - and won 50 of 58 points on his first serve.

Asked if he enjoys playing in the wind, Federer said, “Yeah,  because I see it as a challenge and I see it as an opportunity to play differently… He definitely had more problems on the serve.  Now, from the baseline, look, I also shanked some balls and I also mistimed a few and misread a few, like we all did today.

“But I think the serve was today the biggest key, because obviously he's very famous for serving extremely accurate, extremely hard, over a long period of time.  That's what makes him so hard to beat really.  That wasn't the case today.  He struggled to get the pace, the accuracy going, until midway through the third set when I think he started to hit it a bit better.  Then it was almost too late, really.”

Soderling admitted that he struggled on serve in the wind.  “I didn't put so many first serves in, as I needed to, because of the wind.  It was tough for me.  So I could have needed some more first serves.  Maybe would have played better then.

"Given the circumstances, [Roger] played well.  He's a good wind player.  He can play really well in the wind.  He moves well.  He's always in the right place.  So I think he played well."

Reflecting on his Grand Slam season, which included a second consecutive appearance in the Roland Garros final and a first appearance in the Wimbledon quarter-finals, Soderling said: “It's been okay.  In Australia I was not so good.  Paris and Wimbledon was very good.  Here, still the quarter-finals I didn't play so well, but still a quarter-final. So far it's been good, but still a lot of tournament coming up, big tournaments, so the season is not finished yet.”