Andy Roddick thrashed second seed Novak Djokovic 6-4, 7-5 to set up the first semifinal between Americans at the Cincinnati Masters since 2004.
Roddick was ruthless in his demolition of an underdone Djokovic, running his record in the series to 5-2.
The American went through to the final four in less than 90 minutes with three breaks of serve. Roddick will face his good friend Mardy Fish, who upset fourth seed Murray 6-7 (7-9), 6-1, 7-6 (7-5).
“The first set was big,” Roddick said of his victory over Djokovic. “To be frank, Novak didn’t play that well today. I snuck through the second set.
“There will be no secrets out there with Mardy, we spend as much time together as any two guys on the tour. He trained with me at my house in Austin last week. It will be about subtle things.
“Whoever executes the best will win. I’ll have to play really well.” Murray faded in the gruelling heat against Fish after playing all of his matches this week in the hottest part of the day.
The Scottish fourth seed had asked organisers for a night match after winning the previous day in similar heatwave conditions. But that request was ignored in favour of scheduling Fish early so that he could also play doubles.
The disgruntled Murray said his fitness is nothing that cannot be fixed with a short rest. “I’m just tired; it is nothing more than that really. It will take a few days, to return to fitness, not too long I would have thought.”
Murray said that by the final set, he was truly struggling. “You always try and finish matches. I think I’ve pulled out of maybe one match, two matches out of over 300 or something on the tour.
“But it does cross your mind a little bit when you’re kind of struggling like that. But, you know, the doctor and the physio, did a good job with the ice and cooling me down a little bit.”
