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It is a dance that they have practised at Flushing Meadows for each of the last three years, and Novak Djokovic will get another attempt at shattering the aura of invincibility that surrounds the five-time champion Roger Federer again this year when they clash in the semi-finals of the US Open on Super Saturday. Today, however, belonged to both men as first Djokovic and then Federer coasted into the semis with routine straight set wins. World No. 3 Novak Djokovic brushed aside a meagre challenge from the playful Frenchman Gael Monfils 7-6 (2), 6-1, 6-2. The Serb didn't have to work too hard, given his opponent's penchant for self-destruction. Federer, meanwhile overcame a more worthy adversary in 5th seed Robin Soderling 6-4, 6-4, 7-5.

If there is one player who has altered the tennis landscape in the last two years - it is the Swede Robin Soderling. He has prevented Rafael Nadal from winning a fifth consecutive French Open in an upset that shook the tennis world at its roots; and if that weren't enough he ended Roger Federer's most treasured streak of 23 runs to the semi-finals or better at the grand slam events. In doing so, he has done more than any of his contemporaries in breaking the stranglehold of Roger and Rafa to once again return in a sense a democratic belief among players in their own ability to usurp these two legends from the pedestal they built for themselves. When the formbook held to materialise the most awaited clash in the men's draw, fireworks were expected. And the early signs were that this was going to be a belter.

Soderling had three break points in Federer's opening service game, and Roger had to dig deep very early on to prevent himself from falling behind. Soderling had another glimpse of a break in the 6th game, but Federer served his way out of trouble. Soderling was to pay for those 4 missed chances as Federer broke the Soderling serve on the very first break point he earned in the following game. At 30-40, the Swiss legend produced the most ridiculous of forehand drop shots which left the fans in complete awe of the genius of the man. Federer held on to his next two service games with ease to wrap up the first set in just 36 minutes.

The match appeared to be slipping away from the Swede when he served a double fault on break point in the third game of the second set to leave the former champion up a set and a break. However, the lead was not to last as Soderling showed he was up for the fight, breaking straight back in the next game. Federer made it three straight breaks in the 5th game, working his way back into the game from 40-0 down thanks to a growing error count from Soderling. Roger then stemmed the flow of games against the serve in style producing 4 straight aces to stamp his authority on the match. And a few games later he was up two sets to love with a little over an hour played.

Federer had 24 winners to Soderling's 10 at this stage, and the Swede was just not competing with the great man. That changed for a short while towards the end of the third set as Federer's first serve percentage dipped in tricky conditions, and he made four errors in the 8th game to give Soderling the chance to serve for the set at 5-3. Roger though recovered quickly and soon slipped his game into another gear, one that Soderling had no answer for. Federer stormed back to win the next four games in a row, breaking Soderling twice before serving out the match with the utmost of ease, a couple of more aces helping him through another love game.

It was a clinical if not spectacular display from 5-time champion, where he took 5 of his 6 break point opportunities and dropped just 8 points on his first serve all match. Soderling had posed some interesting questions in the final set, but Federer rose to the challenge to ensure that he heads into the semis without having dropped a set in the tournament thus far.

In the earlier match, the often spectacular Gael Monfils took on the professional Novak Djokovic in an extreme clash of style and culture. In contrast to the Frenchman's showboating antics that belied the importance of the match, Djokovic approached the match with a game plan and adapted quickly to the windy conditions. The Serb played at the net far more than he is normally prone to and was extremely successful in doing so too. He won 40 points at the net, out of the 59 approaches he made to the forecourt in a clear effort to mitigate the risk of wind. Against such a clinical display of professional tennis, the talented but wasteful Monfils never stood a chance.

The beginning of the match though held promise for the athletic Monfils. He broke Djokovic in the second game and held his game together long enough to lead 4-2. But with the conditions on court being rough, this was a contest in which the temperament of the players would turn out to be the foremost ingredient for success on the court. The conditions were far from ideal for tennis, with the gusting winds making it impossible to control the strokes, leave alone construct a point.

Even though behind in the early stages, the Serb who has made the semi-finals of this tournament the last three years got his act together quickly to break Monfils in the eighth game and put the set back on serve. The Frenchman contested this match till the beginning of the tie-breaker; Djokovic dominated the tie-break racing away to a 5-1 lead before a forehand winner helped him to set point. A big serve clinched the set for the Serb, who coasted through the rest of the match for the loss of just three games. "I was focused when I needed to be and I'm just so happy to get through in such tough conditions," Djokovic said. "The key to adjusting to the wind is good focus and patience. You try to hold your nerves the whole match, play one point at a time. I needed to stay focused and use the wind in my favour."

The Frenchman insisted that the winds made it impossible to bring his talents to bear on the match, "On this, I know I have to improve a lot," Monfils said, in an obvious reference to his inability to conquer the conditions. "So sometime for me is very frustrating, so maybe you can say I did not compete. But for me, I cannot use any skill. The talent for play in the wind, I don't have that yet."

Rohan Bopanna and Aisam Ul-Haq Qureshi made their first Grand Slam doubles final defeating the Argentine pair of Eduardo Schwank and Horacio Zeballos 7-6(5), 6-4. The 16th seeds will have their hands full in the finals though, against the crack combination of Bob and Mike Bryan who have recently become the most prolific doubles team in the history of the game.

"In the past two or three months I think we've had wins against all the Top 10 teams in the world. It just shows that I was pretty right about our pairing together, that it would be just a matter of time," said a beaming Qureshi about his partnership with Bopanna as it begins to take bloom.

The top seeds registered an effortless 6-1, 6-4 victory over Marcel Granollers and Tommy Robredo to advance to their ninth final of the year. They have won each of their eight finals this year. "We were aggressive on return and active at the net, and we were able to intercept a lot of ground strokes," Mike Bryan said. "We tried to keep the points short."

Results

Singles - Quarter-finals
[2] R Federer (SUI) d [5] R Soderling (SWE) 64 64 75
[3] N Djokovic (SRB) d [17] G Monfils (FRA) 76(2) 61 62

Doubles - Semi-finals
[1] B Bryan (USA) / M Bryan (USA) d [12] M Granollers (ESP) / T Robredo (ESP) 61 64
[16] R Bopanna (IND) / A Qureshi (PAK) d E Schwank (ARG) / H Zeballos (ARG) 76(5) 64

File Photograph Copyright: Madrid Masters

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