Ferrer overcomes Roddick in Shanghai

David Ferrer stumbled at first but eventually found his form and sent Andy Roddick packing from the Shanghai Masters. Andy Murray also advanced to the semi-finals.

David Ferrer stumbled a bit at first but recovered to send Andy Roddick packing at the Shanghai Masters.
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SHANGHAI // David Ferrer made a string of errors to drop a first-set tie-breaker, then cleaned up his game in the second set and went on to eliminate Andy Roddick in the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Masters on Friday.

Roddick had an opportunity to go up early in the third set, but he wasted three break points on Ferrer's first service game and never challenged the Spaniard's serve again as Ferrer won 6-7, 6-2, 7-6.

Ferrer finished with 49 winners, twice as many as Roddick. Both players had 11 aces.

"I thought the second and third sets he played at an extremely high level and served pretty well," Roddick said. "You know, you normally don't count on him making a lot of first serves, hitting aces."

Roddick had beaten Ferrer in the fourth round of the US Open, after Ferrer scored an emotional win over the American two months earlier in a Davis Cup match played in Roddick's hometown of Austin, Texas.

In the semi-final, Ferrer will face Felicano Lopez, who beat Florian Mayer of Germany 6-2, 6-4 in just over an hour to set up an all-Spanish semi-final clash.

Mayer had ousted Rafael Nadal in straight sets on Thursday.

Andy Murray also advanced to the semi-finals by beating the Australian qualifier Matthew Ebden 6-3, 6-2.

Murray will face Kei Nishikori of Japan, who advanced with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Alexandr Dolgopolov.

After an earlier win over the fourth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Nishikori will become the highest-ranked Japanese player in ATP tour history. Ranked 47th, he is projected to rise to 32 with his quarter-final win, beating Shuzo Matsuoka's previous best ranking of 46.

The 21-year-old Nishikori, who is coached by the former top-10 player Brad Gilbert, is having his best season on tour, reaching one final and four semi-finals. He has won more matches this year, 32, than in the previous four years combined.

Nishikori, who roomed with Gilbert's son, Zachary, at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida, said the coach's instruction has been key to improving his game.

"He knows a lot of players. He teaches me, you know, how the top players play, how I need to play," he said. "So it is helping me a lot."

* Associated Press