Federer near-perfect play in Open win

The wind blew, the temperature dropped, the ball was moving all over the place and Robin Soderling — the hardest hitter in the game, according to John McEnroe — was blasting forehands all over the court. But Roger Federer didn't care.

The man many call the greatest of all time offered up yet another master class on Arthur Ashe Stadium Wednesday night to reach the U.S. Open semifinal for the seventh consecutive year with a 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 whipping of the tall Swede.

I may have seen Federer play better, but not often and not in such treacherous conditions. His footwork was brilliant and this lay the foundation for a series of fluent, flowing and formidable forehands that forced Soderling into error after error on his own right flank.

Despite losing to him 12 straight times, Soderling had ended Federer's hopes of retaining his French Open crown at the quarterfinal stage at Roland Garros in June and, after the form he had been showing in previous rounds at Flushing Meadows, he must have fancied his chances of a repeat.

But Federer began striking the ball with ominous ease right from the start and a cheeky drop shot,  which ended an all-court rally on break point in the first set, suddenly undid all of Soderling's solid early work that had brought him four break points of his own.

A great backhand line pass enabled Soderling to break Federer for 2-1 in the second, but from 40-0, the Swede somehow managed to lose his own in the next game. An ace closed out the second set for Federer, who was thrilling the crowd with the power and panache of his ground strokes.

But to his credit, Soderling kept at it and actually started to hit the ball better in the third, breaking again in the eighth game to leave himself serving for the set at 5-3. But he started with a double fault and it went downhill from there. Federer was now starting to tease his frustrated opponent with more drop shots, following one with a classic lob that Soderling, racing back, hit long.

The Swede was now being outclassed and Federer finished off this majestic display with two aces.

Despite the fact that he moved as well as he has done all year and shanked far fewer forehands than he had done in easier conditions, Federer insisted that the serve was the key.

"With his high toss, he struggled to get pace and accuracy on his serve," said Federer, who was asked why the wind doesn't seem to affect his own delivery.

"I guess I've got a good service motion," he replied. "The wind doesn't affect my concentration. I don't panic; don't double fault much. I have always been able to hit a good serve even if the ball toss is not in the right location anymore. Here you have to get used to the wind, to the heat. Maybe if it was snowing, I might have a problem."

Federer allowed himself a little grin. Stated baldly it may sound rather boastful. But Federer doesn't need to boast. He is asked questions and he just gives honest, matter of fact answers. Very Swiss.

Earlier, in even windier conditions, that amazing Frenchman Gael Monfils had been blown all over the place by a highly impressive Novak Djokovic, who reached the semifinals for the fourth straight year with a 7-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory.

Even in defeat Monfils is a treat to watch because you never know what he is going to do next, and often, neither does he. More than once his racket flew out of his hand and he also fell over himself, lunging in his elastic way, for shots that were palpably beyond him. If he needs help with his footwork, it was sitting in his box in the form of Thierry Henry, who now plays for the New York Red Bulls in the MLS. One of the most graceful movers soccer has ever seen when he was scoring goals for Arsenal, Henry should give his pal a little lesson in how to change direction on the run.

"I have big swing and, as you can see, my adjustment is not that good sometime," the engaging Monfils said. "You have to make small step, stuff like that. For me, it's like really hard to play with wind."

Not that hard for Djokovic, who will be meeting Federer again for a place in the final.

But, unless the weather changes, it seems that this U.S. Open will be determined by who can deal best with the wind, which has blown stronger and more consistently than ever before.

The old proverb says:

"On the sign it is written,
Don't pluck this blossom,
But it is useless against the wind,
Which cannot read."

Somebody is going to have to if they want their name written on the trophy.