They say “give a man a fish and he eats for a day”.  Well, had to work in a Fish joke today.  The last time these two met was in the finals of Atlanta, the first tournament in the US Open Series.  Fish had just been fresh off a win in Newport on grass and was on a streak in Atlanta (which replaced Indianapolis at the first US Open series tournament).  Fish has been having a pretty solid season including reaching the finals of Queen’s, winning Newport and Atlanta, and reaching the semis of Cincy, the only Masters tournament he’s ever reached the finals of twice (including tomorrow).

This was a peculiar match.  The match was delayed by rain.  Once it started, both players were hitting well and on serve.  The match was suspended with 5-4.  Patrick McEnroe thought this would be a little rough for Fish having to come out and serve to stay in the first set.  And it turned out to be true.  Fish came out, played a poor game, and gave the break and set to Roddick.

In the second set, Fish continued slow and was down a break.  Fortunately, there was another rain delay.  After coming out, Fish erased the break that Roddick had (it was 5-2 to Roddick) and the two got into a tiebreak.  Roddick played a few poor points, especially struggling at net with Fish dipping passing shots really low.  Fish took the second set tiebreak 7 points to 4.

Fish used his speed to continue to harass Roddick on serve and got up 5-0, double-break up.  Roddick managed to hold serve and get to 5-1 but Fish held to win the set, 6-1.

Although Roddick lost, the semifinal appearance means Roddick will get back into the top 10 (at 9).  Fish will play the winner of Federer-Baghdatis who will play this evening.  This is his third Masters final.  His previous run, in the 2008 Indian Wells, was an amazing run, beating Hewitt, Nalbdandian, Davydenko, Federer, and only losing to Djokovic in 3 sets in the final.  All these players were ranked at least number 3, if not higher.  Fish’s first Masters final was in 2003 when he met Andy Roddick in the final losing in a third set tiebreak.

Roddick continues a tough streak of losing to fellow Americans.  At least Mardy Fish is a close friend.  They’ve known each other since they were teens and trained last week in Austin prior to Cincy.