Roddick beats Soderling, knocks out a racket too

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Andy Roddick has won every big tennis tournament in the United States -- the U.S. Open and Masters Series events in Key Biscayne and Cincinnati. But never the tournament in Indian Wells.

Seventh-seeded Roddick will get the chance Sunday. He beat sixth-seeded Robin Soderling of Sweden 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to earn a spot against Ivan Ljubicic. Ljubicic upset third-seeded Rafael Nadal 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (1) and this was the first time since 1984 (when Yannick Noah beat Jimmy Arias 6-4, 4-6, 6-4) and Jimmy Connors beat Jose Higueras 6-7, 6-0, 7-6, that both men’s semifinals in this event have gone three sets.

Before knowing that Roddick would win, Ljubicic seemed to suggest Soderling would have been the bigger threat.

‘Maybe Robin is more aggressive off the baseline, but both great servers. Huge first serve both of them have. Andy is a little bit more defensive. I think lately I saw him, he’s pushing the ball back. But he’s doing it pretty well,’ Ljubicic said. Wonder if Roddick feels the same?

After getting his serve broken a couple of times, Roddick threw down his racket and slammed a ball into the wall. When he won, though, Roddick was fist-pumpingly overjoyed.

-- Diane Pucin