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American Andy Roddick came into his quarterfinal match with a 1-15 lifetime record against his opponent, World No. 1 Roger Federer, but emerged with the 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-3 victory on Thursday night in a meeting between former Sony Ericsson Open champions.
World No. 6 Roddick, who had lost his last 11 matches against Federer, forced a set off of the Swiss for the first time since the 2006 Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai as he clinched the opening set tie-break with an ace down the line.
Federer leveled the match by converting on his third break point chance at 4-all and holding serve to close out the second set.
But two errors by the Swiss in the eighth game of the third set set up triple break point for Roddick, and Federer returned a forehand into the net to give his opponent the crucial break. Roddick closed out the match in one hour and 55 minutes on his third match point with Federer unable to return his serve.
Watch Interviews on ATP Masters Series TV: Roddick | Federer
"It's a tough way to finish the match, no doubt," said Federer, the winner of consecutive Miami titles in 2005-06. "I've been on a good run on my serve this week. To end it this way it's sort of disappointing, but what are you going to do? It's over now.
I think I did well to hang in there. Maybe this is one of the matches I should have won against him because he's had some other ones where I think he was supposed to win, but this time around it went his way."
Roddick has now defeated the Top 3 players in the South African Airways ATP Rankings this year. He posted wins over No. 2 Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals and No. 3 Novak Djokovic in the semifinals in Dubai last month en route to the title. His win over No. 1 Federer is his second career victory over the top-ranked player in the world (2-15).
He said: "To kind of build on Dubai and to have wins over 1, 2, 3 in the world early in the season is a good thing. It's probably what's been missing the last two, three years, so it is encouraging."
Federer, who was playing in his 700th career singles match on the ATP circuit (562-138), will enter the clay court season without reaching a final in his first four tournaments of the year. This is Federer's longest stretch without reaching an ATP final since he's been No. 1 going back to Feb. 2, 2004.
Roddick, who clinched the Miami title in 2004, will take a 5-0 lifetime record into his next match against World No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko, the first Russian man to advance to the semifinals in the 24-year history of the Sony Ericsson as he defeated unseeded Janko Tipsarevic 6-2, 6-1.
The 26-year-old Russian, who won three consecutive three-set matches to reach his first quarterfinal in Miami, had little trouble with the 23-year-old Serb. He broke to take a 3-1 lead and closed out the first set when Tipsarevic double-faulted
in the eighth game. In the second set, Davydenko broke for a 2-0 advantage but was broken for the first time in the next game. He broke Tipsarevic right back to go up 3-1 and never looked back.
Watch ATP Masters Series TV: Davydenko interview
Davydenko, who fired nine aces in the one hour and 12 minute match, converted five of six break points while losing his serve once. Tipsarevic, who was appearing in his first career ATP Masters Series quarterfinal, only won 23 percent of his second serve points.
The No. 1 Russian, a Top 5 performer the last three years in the South African Airways ATP Rankings, is off to a career-best 17-5 start this season. It is Davydenko's third ATP semifinal of the year and his fifth career ATP Masters Series semifinal. He won his lone Masters Series title in Paris two years ago.
With Davydenko advancing, it guarantees an all-Top 10 semifinals in Miami for the first time since 1988.
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Wednesday: Nadal Defeats Blake to Reach Miami SF; Berdych Next
Tuesday: Past Champions Federer, Roddick to Meet in QFs
Tuesday: Blake Avenges LA Defeat to Stepanek
Monday: Roddick, Youzhny Advance to Last 16
Monday: Federer Joins Davydenko in Fourth Round
Sunday: Nadal Returns to 4th Rd.; Canas, Mathieu, Andreev Advance
Sunday: Blake Outlasts Santoro; Berdych Advances Easily
Saturday: Federer, Roddick Win Openers; Murray, Hewitt Fall
Saturday: Tsonga Wins in Miami Debut; Seed Exodus Continues
Friday: Qualifier Anderson Upsets Defending Champ Djokovic
Friday: Nadal Advances to Third Round
Thursday: Monfils Rallies to Defeat Isner
Thursday: Reynolds Upsets Safin; Russian Struggles Continue
Wednesday: Querrey Advances Along With Teenagers Cilic, del Potro
Wednesday: Fans Favorite Kuerten Falls in Opener
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