Tennis: Federer takes revenge on Soderling to keep on track for Nadal showdown

Roger Federer took another serene step towards regaining the US Open title by taking revenge against Sweden's Robin Soderling at a windswept Flushing Meadows.

Federer held a 12-win, one-loss record against the fifth seed before yesterday, but had crucially lost their most recent encounter in the quarter-finals of the French Open.

That ended the Swiss star's incredible run of 23 consecutive Grand Slam semi-finals, but Federer went some way to making amends with a 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 win on Arthur Ashe Stadium to advance to his seventh straight US Open semi-final.

The world No.?2 made light of the tricky conditions in New York to serve 18 aces and just two double faults, while it took Soderling until the fifth game of the third set to serve the first of his two aces in the match.

Federer will now face Novak Djokovic for the fourth year in succession in the tournament, the 16-time Grand Slam winner having won all three previous contests - in the 2007 final and in the semi-finals of 2008 and 2009.

Earlier in the day, Djokovic beat France's Gael Monfils 7-6 (7-2), 6-1, 6-2 in their quarter-final and has now won 14 sets in succession.

However, most of the talk at Flushing Meadows has been about the prospect of a final between world No.?1 Rafael Nadal and Federer.