ESPN Tennis

NEW YORK -- Suddenly, surprisingly, Roger Federer found himself in a bit of a jam against Robin Soderling in the U.S. Open quarterfinals Wednesday night.

Federer breezed to a two-set lead, and then was within two points of victory in the third, when Soderling made things interesting by coming back to take that tiebreak. Then Soderling moved within a point of tying the match, taking the lead in the fourth-set tiebreak.

That's when Federer restored order, reeling off the last three points to beat the 12th-seeded Soderling 6-0, 6-3, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (6) and reach a 22nd consecutive Grand Slam semifinal.

"It was so close towards the end. It's a great relief to come through, because Robin started playing better and better as the match went on," Federer said. "I knew he'd be tough, but the beginning was way too easy. He found his way into the match."

Federer improved to 12-0 against Soderling, including victories over the Swede in the French Open final and Wimbledon's fourth round this year.

"For sure, I feel like I have a chance every time I play against him, even though it's pretty small," Soderling said. "He always plays well, it feels like."

With Soderling ahead 6-5 in the last tiebreak, Federer hit a service winner to pull even. Soderling then missed a backhand wide to give Federer a match point and pushed a forehand wide to end the match.

"It's tough to play worse than I did in the first two sets. It could only get better," Soderling said. "I think I was putting a lot of pressure on him from the start of the third set."

Federer has won 39 consecutive matches at the American Grand Slam tournament, where he is trying to become the first man since Bill Tilden in the 1920s to win six titles in a row.

Federer served spectacularly well Wednesday, saving all five break points he faced. He also delivered far more aces than the big-serving Soderling, 28-11.

"For me, it's very tough to read his serve, and I was very impressed about the way he served during the circumstances," Soderling said. "It was very, very windy."

In Saturday's semifinals, Federer will play No. 4 Novak Djokovic of Serbia, who eliminated No. 10 Fernando Verdasco of Spain 7-6 (2), 1-6, 7-5, 6-2.

Like Soderling, Djokovic is a familiar foe. Federer holds an 8-4 head-to-head advantage over Djokovic, which includes wins in the 2007 final and 2008 semifinals at Flushing Meadows.

"I don't think you can ever get your game to perfection, you know. Only if you're Federer," Djokovic said.

Federer last failed to reach the semifinals at a major tournament when he lost in the third round of the 2004 French Open. No other man ever had a Grand Slam semifinal streak longer than 10.

"Not what I aimed for, that's for sure," Federer said of his record semifinal streak at major tournaments. "Probably one of the greatest records for me, personally, in my career. Glad it keeps going."

Djokovic needed all his dogged defensive skills to stay with Verdasco after dropping his serve three times in a row during a terrible second set. After losing seven straight games from 1-0 up in the second, he then had to fend off a break point in the second game of the third set when another break might have swung the momentum completely in Verdasco's favor.

At 5-5 in the third Verdasco blazed a volley wastefully long to hand Djokovic two break point chances at 15-40 and although he saved them, a dumped forehand did give the Serb a 6-5 lead.

Djokovic served out for a two sets to one lead and with his opponent struggling with an abdominal problem, he made short work of the fourth with some commanding tennis.

"The dangerous thing about Verdasco is to let him take over the control of the match, because he's physically very strong," Djokovic said. "He stepped it in, played very aggressive, and he deserved that second set.

"I managed to come back, and that's what matters," he said.

Djokovic is hosting children of victims of the 9-11 terrorist attacks at the U.S. Open, inviting kids to sit in his guest seats at matches.

"It's something that I have been going through, as well, something similar in my past, you know, through the war and all these things," said Djokovic, who himself comes from a war-torn country.

Djokovic said he hasn't been talking with the children about the tragedy, the eighth anniversary of which comes Friday, but that he did want to reach out to them and offer them a unique experience.

"We're trying to enjoy. We're young. They're young. They're trying to enjoy their life, and they came to tennis," he said. "So this is the positive message. We don't want to, you know, get back in the past. What already happened, happened. It's life."

Play opened with the top-ranked men's doubles team of Americans Bob and Mike Bryan falling to the No. 4 seeds, Lukas Dlouhy of Czech Republic and Leander Paes of India. Dlouhy and Paes, this year's French Open winners, advanced to the final with a 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (6) victory to end the defending champs' run at their eighth Grand Slam and third U.S. Open title.

Information from The Associated Press and Reuters was used in this report.