Top seeded American Andy Roddick has eased his way into Saturday's semifinals of the RCA Hardcourt Tennis Championships in Indianapolis, Indiana, with a straight-sets win over ninth-seed Xavier Malisse of Belgium.
Roddick's 6-4, 6-1 victory Friday was his sixth over Malisse in as many tries, and the seventh time the American has reached the semifinal of a tournament this year. He has won twice this season, but never on a hard court surface.
Roddick, a semifinalist at Wimbledon, will next face third-seed Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands. Schalken rallied Friday to beat 20-year-old, seventh-seeded American Robby Ginepri, 1-6, 6-1, 6-2.
The other semifinal Saturday places second-seed Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand against unseeded Nicolas Thomann of France. Thomann upset number-14 Nicolas Kiefer of Germany 7-6, 7-5 on Friday, while Srichaphan rolled over unseeded Australian Scott Draper, 6-4, 6-2.