Stanford looks for its first win in South Bend in 18 years (Getty Images) The last time that Roger Federer faced Robin Soderling, he went down in defeat. This time around, the five-time champ left little to doubt. The second-seeded Federer overcame a slight challenge in the third set to dispatch the No. 5 Soderling in straight sets 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 in little less than two hours to reach the semis late last night at the U.S. Open.

Federer Moves Through at Open (Getty Images) The last time that Roger Federer faced Robin Soderling, he went down in defeat. This time around, the five-time champ left little to doubt. The second-seeded Federer overcame a slight challenge in the third set to dispatch the No. 5 Soderling in straight sets 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 in little less than two hours to reach the semis late last night at the U.S. Open. The Swede ousted Federer in the quarters of the French Open this year, spoiling the Grand Slam's career leader chance at a repeat. Despite high wind gusts that have plagued Flushing Meadows most of this week, Federer found equitable control on his serves and shots, hitting 18 aces and only two double faults After breaking once in the first two sets, Federer found himself in a quandary after Soderling broke to go up 5-3 in the third set. Then, he recovered hitting some nice shots and Soderling double-faulted to allow him to break back. Federer then went on cruise control, holding serve, breaking his opponent once more and serving out with two aces to close the match out. Federer, who lost to Juan Martin del Potro last year in the finals, will play in his seventh straight U.S. Open semifinal. His opponent will be No. 3 Novak Djokovic, who was victorious over 17th-seeded Gael Monfils in straight sets 7-6 (2), 6-1, 6-2. The other spots in the men's semis will be decided today when top-seeded Rafael Nadal takes on No. 8 Fernando Verdasco and No. 12 Mikhail Youzhny faces Stanislas Wawrinka in the other quarterfinals matchups. On the women's side of the draw, top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki advanced to the semifinals with a straight sets win over 45th-ranked Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 7-5. Wozniacki, the '09 runner-up, played her usual steady game and kept her mistakes to a minimum with only 18 unforced errors, in comparison to 43 by Cibulkova. With her victory on Friday, she extended her winning streak to 13 matches. Her opponent in the semis will be seventh-seeded Vera Zvonereva who defeated No. 31 Kaia Kanepi 6-3, 7-5 in a match that was plagued with 88 unforced errors between both players. No. 3 Venus Williams and No. 3 Kim Clijsters will face off in the other semifinal Friday.