HOUSTON, 20 November 2004 — World No. 1 Roger Federer downed Carlos Moya 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 on Thursday to complete a dazzling unbeaten run through the round-robin stages into the semifinals of the Masters Cup.
American Andy Roddick also secured his place in the last four when he out-muscled Russia’s Marat Safin 7-6, 7-6, moving to the top of the Blue Group standings with a 2-0 record.
Britain’s Tim Henman, seeking his first title of the year, crushed Argentine Guillermo Coria 6-2, 6-2 to keep alive his hopes of advancing.
The last two semifinal places in the $4.45 million season finale was to be decided yesterday when Safin takes on Henman in a Blue Group clash and Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt meets French Open champion Gaston Gaudio in the Red Group.
Having not played since straining his left thigh preparing for his home tournament in Basel a month ago, Federer’s fitness had been the big question mark hanging over the tournament.
But after sweeping through the round-robin stages in imperious fashion, the defending champion confirmed he was back playing the sublime tennis that carried him to three grand slam titles and 10 tournament wins this season.
Despite having already clinched his semifinal spot with a win over Hewitt on Wednesday, there was no let up from Federer against Moya, except for a brief lapse in the second set.
The Spaniard stepped on to the court needing a victory to secure a berth in the last four and after taking the second set he was in position to register his first career victory over the 23-year-old Swiss. Federer quickly blunted those thoughts by racing into a 3-0 lead in the decider.
Moya now needs Gaudio to defeat Hewitt in order to qualify for the semis.
“It was tough mentally going into such a match knowing I had already qualified and that Carlos needed it so much and I didn’t,” Federer told reporters.
In a contest pitting brute force against brute force at the Westside Tennis Club, there was little finesse on display as Roddick and Safin traded thunderous serves and punishing groundstrokes for nearly two hours.
The form player coming into Houston with back-to-back Masters victories in Madrid and Paris, Safin could never gain the upper hand against Roddick, who has enjoyed a superb season and now has an ATP Tour-best 73 wins to his name.
The match was decided by two tiebreaks, Roddick winning the first 9-7 before blasting four of his 15 aces past Safin to take the second 7-4.
Henman’s attacking tennis was too much for the rusty Coria, who is playing his first event since undergoing shoulder surgery in July.
It proved a good time to be playing the returning Argentine for Henman, who had won only one of four previous matches against Coria.
Meanwhile, Zimbabweans Wayne Black and Kevin Ullyett defeated Belgium’s Xavier Malisse and Olivier Rochus 6-4, 6-2, to reach the doubles semifinals of the ATP Masters Cup.
The Africans’ triumph lifted them into a Friday match-up against Sweden’s Jonas Bjorkman and Australia’s Todd Woodbridge for a berth in today’s final.
Americans Bob and Mike Bryan eliminated India’s Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi of Belarus 7-6 (9-7), 5-7, 6-4 to book a semifinal date against world No. 1s Mark Knowles of Bahamas and Daniel Nestor of Canada.
The Bryans had lost all three prior career matches against Bhupathi and Mirnyi.
