Ferrer Beats Roddick to Reach Shanghai Semis
Spain's David Ferrer battled back from a set down to reach the semi-finals of the Shanghai Masters on Friday with a 6-7 (5/7), 6-2, 7-6 (7/2) win over Andy Roddick.
After a first set that went with serve, Roddick drew first blood when he clinched the tie-break but the Spanish third seed hit back strongly in the second set to break the big-serving American twice.
Tenth seed Roddick was match point down in the 10th game of the third set but kept his nerve to level at 5-5 and force a tie-break.
The tie-break initially went with serve but Ferrer secured two crucial mini-breaks and sealed the win after more than two-and-a-half hours.
Ferrer, who hit 11 aces in the match and 49 winners compared with 37 unforced errors, was not broken once by his American opponent throughout the match.
"I feel confident. This is very important because some moments I didn't play really well. This tournament, you know, in important moments I served really well," said Ferrer.
Roddick said the Spaniard's serve had been an important factor.
"He was missing a little bit in the first. I thought second and third sets he played at an extremely high level and served pretty well.
"You know, you normally don't count on him making a lot of first serves, hitting aces. I felt like today he did that and got himself out of trouble a couple of times. When he's doing that, he's definitely tough to beat."
Ferrer, who produced a dramatic comeback against Juan Carlos Ferrero to reach the quarter-finals, this week, became the fifth player to qualify for the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London.
Later matches in Shanghai on Friday include second seed Andy Murray playing against Australia's Matthew Ebden.
Source: Agence France Presse
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