Roddick and Nadal to face each other in Miami semi-finals

MIAMI: Spain''s Rafa Nadal will face American Andy Roddick in the semi-finals of the Sony Ericsson Open after the pair enjoyed convincing victories on Wednesday.

Roddick cruised with a 6-3 6-3 win over Spain''s Nicolas Almagro while Nadal was in blistering form in front of a packed crowd as he crushed France''s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-3 6-2.

The big serving Tsonga matched Nadal in the opening exchanges but never recovered after the Spaniard broke his serve in the seventh game of the opening set.

From then on Nadal, wearing a bright yellow shirt, was in outstanding form, displaying his full range of strokes as he dealt with everything that Tsonga threw at him saving all eight break points in the match.

Nadal, always a favourite among the heavily Hispanic crowd in Miami, survived a crucial break point when he was 3-1 up in the second set but facing Tsonga''s renewed determination and it was free cruising from that point.

Sixth seed Roddick, who won this event in 2004, never looked back after breaking at the first opportunity in the opening set.

In the second Roddick broke in the fifth thanks to two great forehand shots down the line and a delicate half-volley.

But the American never really had to take any risks as he kept it tight and looked to take advantage of whatever loose returns came his way.

Thursday''s quarter-finals see Czech Tomas Berdych, who eliminated top seed Roger Federer in the previous round, will meet Spain''s Fernando Verdasco while Russian Mikhail Youzhny plays Sweden''s Robin Soderling.