Andy Roddick booked his place in the semi-finals of the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships with victory over Lleyton Hewitt.
Top seed hits back to book semi-final spot in Memphis
Andy Roddick booked his place in the semi-finals of the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships with a hard-fought victory over Lleyton Hewitt.
Roddick, chasing his third title in Memphis, had to come from behind against his old rival to win 4-6 6-3 6-4 in a clash of former world number ones.
The American, who has not lost to Hewitt since 2005, dropped his serve in the very first game and was broken on two further occasions as the Australian took the first set.
But Hewitt was unable to put any more pressure on the powerful Roddick delivery thereafter as the top seed carved out victory in two hours and 13 minutes.
"He was playing better early on," said Roddick, who will take on Juan Martin Del Potro in the semi-finals. "He just keeps plugging away. He definitely makes you earn it if you want to get a win.
"A match can turn quickly, and it did tonight in the third set. The end of the second set and the third set was probably the best I've played in this tournament so far.
"I haven't gotten off to the best starts in two out of three of my matches. I'm going to have to start playing better from the get-go."
Champion out
Del Potro, on the comeback trail after missing most of last year with a wrist injury, enjoyed a routine 6-4 6-2 success over American Michael Russell.
Roddick's good friend Mardy Fish is also through to the last four after he beat defending champion Sam Querrey 6-3 6-4.
Querrey gifted Fish a break in the fifth game of the second set by double-faulting and it proved crucial to the outcome as the fourth seed held on to win in 79 minutes.
Fish will take on 20-year-old wildcard Milos Raonic in the second semi-final after the Canadian fired 20 aces on the way to beating qualifier Robert Kendrick 6-4 3-6 6-3.
Raonic clinched his first title in San Jose last week in just his eighth ATP Tour event and was delighted to keep the run going.
"It's tough after having such an amazing week after last week to come back and sort of keep up the same level," he said.
"I'm very proud I was able to do that that I was able to stay there mentally and do what I needed to do to get the wins not playing the brightest of tennis."
