When Pete Sampras was playing Andre Agassi, he seemed to have supreme confidence.  No matter how well Agassi had been playing or how poorly Sampras had played, if the two met, Sampras believed his serve and his groundies could bother Agassi.  Agassi would think he could play with Sampras but he’d lose a few points here and there and suddenly he panicked.

If Sampras had that kind of confidence over his rival, imagine the kind of confidence Roger Federer has when he plays Andy Roddick.  In 22 meetings, Federer has beaten Roddick 20 times.  The last time Andy Roddick beat Roger Federer was in 2008 in Miami.  The only other win was back in 2003.  It’s not that Roddick hasn’t come close.  Indeed, one of his best chances came in the 2009 Wimbledon final when his serve was humming, but Federer still won that match, nonetheless.

This is the first year Roddick’s ranking has slipped out of the top ten for a significant period of time.  Indeed, Federer and Roddick have not played each other for a year.  The last time they met was in Basel last year with Federer defeating Roddick rather handily.

Up to this point, Federer’s play has been rather shaky.  He played two close sets against Starace and three sets against Nieminen.  Against Roddick, however, Federer cleaned up his play considerably.  Federer has always given Roddick trouble by returning his serve well.  Roddick is a bit averse to playing too aggressively because he makes too many errors when he does this.  He doesn’t hit hard enough to hit outright winners which generally allows Federer to stay in points and goad Roddick once again.

Federer likes to use slice to draw Roddick into net and then pass him.  And Federer generally serves well enough that he wins a few free points against Roddick.  Of course, Federer can simply win points by being sublime, and tonight, he looked as sharp as he has in some time.  But it is, one should recall, Andy Roddick.  Federer’s confidence is always sky-high playing Roddick.

Federer won the first set with a break, got an early and then a late break in the second to win 63, 62.

Up next for Federer is his countryman, Stan Wawrinka.  Wawa was scheduled to play the rather awkward Florian Mayer whose net skills and flat style confounded Nadal in Shanghai.  However, Mayer didn’t seem to bother Wawa at all and lost easily 62, 62.

Earlier in the day, Novak Djokovic played Marcos Baghdatis.  Baghdatis tends to give Djokovic trouble because he can hit big shots and run a bit with Djokovic.  He doesn’t usually win, but he makes things interesting.  He made things very interesting by playing big from the start.  With Djokovic misfiring on serves and groundstrokes, Baghdatis took a double break lead and won the first set, 62.

However, Djokovic’s win streak means he believes he can win every match, even if he’s playing poorly, so Djokovic improved his serve, got better reads on Baghdatis’s serve and began controlling points much better.  He took sets 2 and 3 by the scores of 62 and 63.

Djokovic will play Kei Nishikori in the other semifinals.  The two have only met once, back in the 2010 French Open which Djokovic won easily.  Djokovic will be a heavy favorite.  It will be Nishikori’s third semifinal in as many weeks.  He reached the semis of Kuala Lumpur losing to Tipsarevic, then reached the semis of Tokyo, losing to Andy Murray.  He lost in his first match at Shanghai to David Ferrer.

Due to this, Nishikori has a special exemption into Paris next week where he might meet Djokovic early on.

Valencia

Earlier in the day, Marcel Granollers upset Gael Monfils in three sets, 76, 36, 64.

Juan Martin del Potro won fairly easily over Sam Querrey, 62, 75.

David Ferrer had few problems winning over Nikolay Davydenko, 63, 64.

Juan Monaco is up a set 63 against Juan Carlos Ferrero.  Monaco is trying to prevent a third Spaniard from reaching the semis of Valencia.  Ferrer and Granollers are already in the semis.

del Potro will play Granollers in one semi while Ferrer will take on the winner of Ferrero and Monaco.