World No. 2 Roger Federer battled past Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) on Thursday to book a semi-final meeting with Andy Murray at the Indian Wells hardcourt tennis tournament.
World No. 4 Murray spoiled Ivan Ljubicic’s 30th birthday celebrations with a 7-5, 7-6 (8/6) victory over the Croatian.
Federer, playing his first tournament since losing a five-set final to Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open, looked to be cruising when he took a 4-1 lead in the second set.
PHOTO: AP
But the four break points he saved in the third game foreshadowed trouble to come.
Verdasco finally capitalized on his chances against Federer’s serve, breaking him twice to take a 6-5 lead.
But the 10th-seeded Spaniard failed to convert two set points in the 12th game as Federer broke him to force the tiebreaker.
Federer took a 6-2 lead in the decider, but still needed four match points to put Verdasco away.
Murray needed just over two hours to subdue Ljubicic, who had saved five match points in his win over Igor Andreev a day earlier.
The Croatian led 5-4 in the second-set tiebreaker, but Murray won the next two points on his own serve, then claimed the victory on his second match point.
Murray, 21, has won two titles this year, defending his title at Doha and defeating world No. 1 Nadal in the final at Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
But he has been troubled by an ankle injury and withdrew after reaching the quarter-finals in Dubai with a virus, which also kept him out of Davis Cup.
He said he was a bit surprised to find himself in the semis after his patchy preparation.
However, Murray boasts a 5-2 career record against Federer. Since falling to Federer in straight sets in the US Open final in September, Murray has beaten him three straight times — at Madrid, at the Masters Cup in Shanghai and in Doha.
In the remaining quarter-finals yesterday, Nadal was to take on sixth-seeded Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina while defending champion and third seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia was to clash with seventh-seed Andy Roddick of the US.
In women’s semi-finals, defending champion Ana Ivanovic of Serbia was to face 17-year-old Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who upset seventh-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska 7-6 (10/8), 6-4.
Ivanovic advanced on a walkover when Austrian Sybille Bammer pulled out with a shoulder injury.
Fourth seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva was to face eighth-seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus — her doubles partner — in the other semi-final.
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