Federer, Ferrer win semifinal matches

SHANGHAI (China)—Roger Federer looked sharp in dominating Rafael Nadal 6-4, 6-1 Saturday to advance to the Masters Cup final against David Ferrer, who cruised past Andy Roddick 6-1, 6-3.
The second-ranked Nadal was 8-5 against Federer and played well early, but the top-ranked Swiss star found another gear while serving at 4-4 in the first set. After Nadal pulled ahead 15-30, the defending champion ran off 20 of the next 21 points, including 15 straight in an 11-minute span.
“I was really pleased with my performance for the last 1 1/2 sets,” Federer said. “Before that it was tough. Rafa had a bit of the upper hand. But after that, I got in the zone and played incredibly. Once I get on a roll, it’s hard to stop me.”
A stunned Nadal won only three points in the first five games of the second set. He finally held at love to break Federer’s streak of seven games.
“When he’s 100 percent, he’s playing in another league. It’s impossible to stop him,” Nadal said. “I fight. I fight. I fight. Nothing to say. Just congratulate him.” Serving at 5-1, Federer hit an overhead winner to set up match point, and Nadal netted a backhand to finish it off in 59 minutes — 13 minutes less than Federer needed to blitz Roddick on Friday.
Federer is 7-0 against Ferrer and has won three straight matches since losing his opener in the season-ending tournament for the top eight players in the rankings. Against Nadal, he landed 83 percent of his first serves and ended up with 26 winners to 16 unforced errors, yielding only 11 points in his nine service games. “The way I played today, I wish I could play every time like this against him,” Federer said. “But it’s not that easy.” It was a disappointing end for the vocal section of flag-waving Spanish fans who were dressed in their red-and-gold national colors and chanted to a trumpet, bongo drum and cymbals as Ferrer beat Roddick, the clear fan favorite in the packed but chilly 15,000-seat arena.
Ferrer, who now has dropped only one set in four matches, was fresh, confident and sharp from the start, while Roddick seemed to be showing the effects of the short 20-hour turnaround from his loss to Federer the night before. Ferrer last played Thursday. “Today I played very good,” Ferrer said. “Now I want to enjoy this moment.” After Roddick held serve to start the match, Ferrer ran off six games in a row, with Roddick never managing a game point. Roddick’s serve lost some of its usual zing, and he got a massage on his lower back after getting broken for the second time to trail 4-1. He won only 11 of his 26 service points in the first set.
“It was really stiff. My range of motion was really bad,” Roddick said. “Normally you’re able to work your way into a match a little bit. With David, he comes out, makes balls right away. We had some extended rallies.—Agencies