Basel: Roger Federer made short work of Andy Roddick this time, winning 6-2, 6-4 in the Swiss Indoors semifinals on Saturday in their first rematch since the epic 2009 Wimbledon final.
Federer broke Roddick's serve twice in each set and fired 13 aces to the American's four to win in 69 minutes.
"He couldn't serve an ace for a long time, and that's always a good sign you're getting a decent read on his serve," Federer said.
Last time at Wimbledon, Federer broke Roddick once in the 39th attempt to win 16-14 in the fifth set after 4 hours, 16 minutes.
"It's unfortunate my bad serving day came today," Roddick said. "I was just a little bit out of rhythm. You can't afford to do that against Roger."
The top-seeded Swiss improved his career record to 20-2 against Roddick.
Only retired greats Boris Becker and Ivan Lendl have more victories against a single opponent in the past 30 years. Becker had a 25-10 hold on Stefan Edberg, and Lendl held a 22-13 edge on Jimmy Connors and 21-15 over John McEnroe.
"For some reason it always kind of works well for me against Andy," Federer said.
Federer will face defending champion Novak Djokovic in the final on Sunday. Djokovic beat his Serbian Davis Cup teammate Viktor Troicki 7-6 (4), 6-4.
"It's obviously a difficult final," said Federer, whose streak of three Basel titles was ended by Djokovic. "It's as tough as they come on a quick indoor court."
The Federer-Roddick reunion played out differently this time. On Saturday, Roddick lost serve immediately on when he netted a forehand.
He then had to save two more Federer chances to break before getting on the board, trailing 3-1.
Federer won the first 10 points on his own serve, then fended off two break chances for Roddick with volleyed winners. He clinched the set with a break when his forehand crosscourt pass beat the American's approach to the net.
Roddick broke to start the second set when Federer mistimed a topspin forehand.
In Roddick's next service game he fired his first two aces, but Federer evened it 3-3 when converting his third break chance with a backhand volley.
Federer needed a single match point. A smooth forehand from the baseline again flashed past Roddick, who struggled to close Federer's angle for the crosscourt pass.
Roddick will move to seventh in the points race for the eight-man ATP World Tour Finals in London.
"Looking back over this week, there's more positives than negatives," said Roddick, who will play in the Paris Masters next week.
The second-seeded Djokovic was pushed harder for his victory. He saved three set points in the first trailing 6-5, 40-0 on Troicki's serve.
"I was very lucky to get out of the first set and I regained my confidence," said Djokovic, who forced a tiebreaker after starting a run of winners with a blistering forehand return. "I closed my eyes and hit it as hard as I could. That's what we were joking about."
Longtime friends, Djokovic and Troicki walked off the court laughing with an arm around each other's shoulders. They'll likely play singles for Serbia when it hosts the Davis Cup final against France on Dec. 3-5.
Djokovic will play in his fourth final this season, with wins in Dubai and Beijing and a U.S. Open final loss to Rafael Nadal.
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