Federer forges on towards final and his 17th Grand Slam win
Published:Roger Federer took another serene step towards regaining the US Open title by taking revenge against Sweden’s Robin Soderling at a windswept Flushing Meadows.
Federer held a 12-1 career record against the fifth seed before today, but had crucially lost their most recent encounter in the quarter-finals of the French Open.
That ended the Swiss star’s incredible run of 23 consecutive Grand Slam semi-finals, but Federer went some way to making amends with a 6-4 6-4 7-5 win on Arthur Ashe Stadium to advance to his seventh straight US Open semi-final.
The world number two made light of the tricky conditions in New York to serve 18 aces and just two double faults, while it took Soderling until the fifth game of the third set to serve the first of his two aces in the match.
Federer will now face Novak Djokovic for the fourth year in succession in the tournament, the 16-time Grand Slam winner having won all three previous contests – in the 2007 final and in the semi-finals of 2008 and 2009.
Asked about facing Djokovic again in Saturday’s semi-finals, Federer added: “He’s been playing great after a hiccup in the first round, he’s a great player.
“We just played each other in Toronto and I got lucky to get through that one there and he’s obviously looking for the big breakthrough at the US Open so it’s going to be a tough one.”
Federer is 11/10 to win the US Open whilst Djokovic is 11/2 but the Serb will want revenge after losing to Federer in the 2007 final.
Nadal is cruising through the top half of the draw and is 6/5 to win. See the full US Open tennis betting market here.
