Roddick Beats Ljubicic, Sets Up Semifinal Showdown with Nadal

Second seed Nadal defeated Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela 7-5, 7-5 Thursday afternoon, while third seed Roddick prevailed over Croat Ivan Ljubicic 7-6(7), 7-6(8) in the evening session.

After making his way effortlessly into the quarterfinals by conceding just two games to former World No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero, Nadal faced a tougher challenge from recent Acapulco winner Chela. The Argentine came into Thursday's match tied with both Roddick and Ljubicic for fourth on the list of 2007 ATP match wins leaders with 17 victories this season.

Nadal, who was pursuing his first semifinal appearance since the opening week in Chennai, needed to rally from a 1-4 deficit in the second set to avoid dropping a set for the first time in the tournament.

"I wasn't playing my best match today, but I can't say it's bad match for me," said Nadal. "It was normal match for me, not the best. But the final thing is I won two sets, 7-5, 7-5. That's very important if I won in two sets against one of the best players in the world right now."

Nadal will face another of the ATP's hottest players in Roddick, who has yet to face a break point going into the semifinals.

With Ljubicic also playing a near-flawless service game Thursday night, saving all three break points earned by the American, Roddick relied on composure in the tie-breaks to advance to the Pacific Life Open semifinals for the second time in his career.

Roddick, who sealed the victory on his fourth match point, said: "I was excited because I was playing the way I wanted to in the breakers. I kept going forward. I won some points. I lost some points. I hit a new little chip short one, that won me a couple points. I was happy with that. I thought all in all, I gave myself a chance to win and eventually was able to do it."

In their ten career meetings, including Thursday's match, Roddick and Ljubicic have played 12 tie-breaks in 27 sets, five of which were decided by 22 or more points.

Roddick has reached the semifinals in all four of his tournament appearances this year, falling to the eventual champions in his three previous events.

Nadal and Roddick, who boast six and four ATP Masters Series titles respectively, have split their previous two meetings, both which came in 2004 when Roddick was ranked the World No. 2. Nadal has held the No. 2 ranking since July 25, 2005.

Roddick said: "We played once in '04, when he wasn't really the Nadal that we know now at the US Open. I won pretty convincingly. And then we played on clay at the Davis Cup, so I don't knowyou can take much stock from either one of those, considering the match-up that we have here." (Indian Wells)