The Federer Express mows down Roddick, Part XV

The Swiss world number one pulled out all the stops yet again to defeat Andy Roddick in round-robin play at the Masters Cup in Shanghai. This is Federer's fifteenth win over Roddick in sixteen meetings.

The American number one had confidently gone into the match expecting to finally notch a second victory over Federer in four years after the defending champion looked uncharacteristically vulnerable in his two previous round-robin matches. But Federer apparently put all that behind him and proved that he still owns Roddick.

Almost from the outset, Federer showed that he knew Roddick's game inside out, effortlessly returning Roddick's rocket serves and ruthlessly hitting sublime winners past the frustrated American. The top seed handily won the first set 6-4 and then promptly romped to a 4-0 lead in the second before Roddick finally held serve to avoid a bagel. Federer just allowed him one more game before wrapping up the match.

It was quite a treat to see the vintage Federer of old playing at the top his game and dismantling his opponent's. But not so for poor Roddick who could do nothing but shake his head with a wry smile on his face as he suffered yet another humiliation at the hands of the tennis genius. Federer had hit 33 winners to Roddick's 14 and put in an amazing 83% of his first serves.

We Federer fans have to give Roddick credit though for this gift of a match: he always seems to bring out the best in Federer every time they play against each other.

Having won the Red Group by virtue of this victory, Federer will be facing the runner-up in the Gold Group, long-time rival Rafael Nadal, in the semifinals. This will essentially be a rematch of last year's semifinals where Federer defeated Rafael Nadal in two tight sets 6-4 7-5. Nadal has a 8-5 overall head-to-head record over Federer but the two have split their four meetings on hardcourts.
Photo credit: China Photos/Getty Images