Federer to take on Djokovic in US Open semis

NEW YORK: Roger Federer will play Novak Djokovic in the US Open semi-finals on Saturday, their third consecutive clash at Flushing Meadows after the final of 2007 and the semi-finals of last year.

Top seed and defending champion Federer reached the last four for a record 22nd time in a Grand Slam tournament despite a stirring late show from Robin Soderling, winning 6-0, 6-3, 6-7 (6/8), 7-6 (8/6).

Fourth-seeded Djokovic won a dour, stamina-sapping encounter with Spain''s Fernando Verdasco 7-6 (7/2), 1-6, 7-5, 6-2 to reach the semi-finals for the third consecutive year.

Teen upstarts Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark and Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium fought through the tension to reach their first Grand Slam semi-finals with nerve-testing US Open triumphs.

Ninth seed Wozniacki, until now the top-ranked woman never in a Slam final eight, ousted 70th-ranked US teen Melanie Oudin 6-2, 6-2 while Wickmayer, never before past a Slam second round, beat Ukraine''s Kateryna Bondarenko 7-5, 6-4.

Oudin, 17, was the giant killer of Flushing meadows, ousting former world number one Maria Sharapova, fourth seed Elena Dementieva and 13th seed Nadia Petrova after dumping former world number one Jelena Jankovic at Wimbledon.