MASON - August 19, 2006 - Seventh seed Tommy Robredo, No. 9 Andy Roddick, No. 13 Fernando Gonzalez and unseeded Juan Carlos Ferrero, a former World No. 1, play their semifinal matches on Saturday.

ROBREDO vs. FERRERO, Robredo leads 2-1
Spaniards Robredo and Ferrero square off for the fourth time, with Robredo holding a 2-1 edge (see below). Their last match was right here two years ago in the second round, with Robredo winning in three sets.

This is the first all-Spanish semifinal match here since 2002, when Carlos Moya defeated Ferrero. The winner will be the first Spaniard to reach the final in Cincinnati since 2002, when Moya captured the title (d. Hewitt).

Robredo beat No. 4 seed Ivan Ljubicic in the quarterfinals 7-6(6), 6-2, while Ferrero upset No. 2 seed Rafael Nadal 7-6(2), 7-6(3). Robredo has held all 40 of his service games in the tournament, while Ferrero has dropped serve once in 38 games.

Robredo, 24, is playing in his fourth ATP semifinal of the year. He won all of the previous three, capturing titles at the ATP Masters Series Hamburg in May (d. Stepanek) and at Bastad last month (d. Davydenko). The win in Hamburg made him the only player other than Federer and Nadal to win a Masters Series event this year.

Robredo also was runner-up at Barcelona in April (l. to Nadal). He has reached eight finals in his career and won four of them, including Sopot in 2001 (d. Portas) and Barcelona in 2004 (d. Gaudio).

Robredo has won 11 of his last 14 matches and has a career record of 11-4 here. He also reached the semifinals in 2004 (l. to Hewitt).

If Robredo reaches the final, it will be his first on hard courts, first in the U.S. and second in an ATP Masters Series event, after Hamburg.

Ferrero’s win over Nadal Thursday was his biggest of the year. The 26-year-old, who was ranked No. 1 in 2003 and won Roland Garros that year is playing in his first ATP Masters Series semifinal since the fall of 2003 in Madrid, where he won the tournament (d. Massu), also his last ATP title.

This year, Ferrero has reached only one other semifinal -- at Buenos Aires in February (l. to Moya). Ferrero last reached a final last fall at Vienna (l. to Ljubicic). Ferrero has played 24 finals in his career and won 11 of them.
He is seeking to reach his sixth Masters Series final and his second final in the U.S., after posting a runner-up finish at the 2003 US Open (l. to Roddick).

Ferrero has won 13 of his last 19 matches. He has a career record of 12-6 here, making the semifinals in 2002 as well (l. to Moya).

RODDICK vs. GONZALEZ, Roddick leads 5-2
The American Roddick battles Gonzalez of Chile. Roddick has a 5-2 edge over the Chilean, including two wins this year. Roddick defeated Andy Murray 6-3, 6-4 in the quarterfinals, while Gonzalez beat No. 10 seed David Ferrer 6-2, 6-4.

Roddick, 23, is playing in his first ATP Masters Series semifinal since Paris at the end of last year. His last ATP Masters Series final was here one year ago (l. to Federer). This is the fourth ATP semifinal of the year for Roddick. He lost two of the previous three: at San Jose in February (to Murray) and at London-Queen’s Club in June to Blake.

Roddick also lost to Blake in his only ATP final this year at Indianapolis last month. A week later, an injury to his side forced Roddick out of Los Angeles after winning his second-round match. The injury also left him unable to play in Washington and Toronto the last two weeks. Still, he has won 15 of his last 18 matches.

Roddick has reached 31 finals in his career and won 20 of them. He has a sterling 22-5 career record here, winning the event in 2003 (d. Fish) and finishing second last year to Federer. This is Roddick’s fourth consecutive year reaching at least the semifinals.

Roddick is playing in his first ATP Masters Series semifinal since last year in Paris (l. to Ljubicic). He is trying to advance to his seventh career Masters Series final, and won three of the last six.

Gonzalez, 26, has won 17 of his last 22 matches. He reached the semifinals just last week at the ATP Masters Series event in Toronto (l. to Federer).
He is playing in his third Masters Series semifinal of the year, as he also advanced that far at Monte Carlo in April (l. to Federer). He is seeking his first Masters Series semifinal win in his fifth career attempt.

This year, Gonzalez also reached the semifinals at Vina del Mar in February (l. to Massu) and at Los Angeles last month (l. to Tursunov). His last final and last title came at Amersfoort last July (d. Calleri).

He has played 12 finals in his career and won seven of them.

Gonzalez has a career mark of 12-4 here, reaching the semifinals in 2002 (l. to Hewitt).

DOUBLES PREVIEW – TOP-SEEDED BRYANS PLAY ERLICH-RAM IN SEMIFINALS
The top-seeded American duo of Bob and Mike Bryan face sixth-seeded Israelis Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram in the semifinals Saturday. The Bryans beat Aspelin-Perry in the quarterfinals, while Erlich-Ram defeated Safin-Youzhny.

The Bryans are the ATP’s hottest team, with four straight titles and three in the last three weeks. They won Wimbledon in July (d. Santoro-Zimonjic), then Los Angeles three weeks ago (d. Butorac-J. Murray), Washington two weeks ago (d. Hanley-Ullyett) and Toronto last week (d. Hanley-Ullyett again).

The twins have now won 20 straight matches, lifting their record to 56-9 this year.

Erlich and Ram have a record of 30-15 this year, winning titles at Adelaide in January (d. Hanley-Ullyett) and Nottingham in June (d. Kunitsyn-Tursunov). They were runners-up at Rotterdam in February and Rome in May.

In the other semifinal, No. 2 seeds Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden and Max Mirnyi of Belarus square off against No. 7 seeds Martin Damm of the Czech Republic and Leander Paes of Italy. Bjorkman and Mirnyi beat Santoro-Zimonjic in the quarterfinals, while their opponents upset No. 3 seeds Knowles-Nestor.

Bjorkman and Mirnyi have a record of 37-8 this year. They captured the crowns at Doha in January (d. C. Rochus-O. Rochus), at Miami in April (d. the Bryans), Monte Carlo in April (d. Santoro-Zimonjic) and Roland Garros in June (d. the Bryans).

Damm and Paes have a record of 22-13 this year. They won the title at ‘s-Hertogenbosch in June (d. Clement-Haggard) and were runners up at the Australian Open in January (l. to the Bryans). They also made it to three other semifinals, including Toronto last week (l. to Hanley-Ullyett).

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