Federer into last four

Roger Federer continued his domination of Andy Roddick with another crushing win over the American on Friday at the Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai.

The world number one has responded well to his defeat to Fernando Gonzalez on Monday in his Red Group opener.

A convincing win over Nikolay Davydenko put him firmly back in contention and the Russian's victory over Gonzalez earlier on Friday assured Federer a place in the semi-finals.

Even though his progression was assured when he took to the court, there was certainly no let-up from the Swiss against Roddick.

Federer was dominant throughout, winning 6-4 6-2 in just 61 minutes to register his 11th successive win against the big-serving 25-year-old and the 15th in 16 career meetings.

The defending champion tried to play down his performance afterwards, however.

"Let's not over-rate today's match, because we both qualified, both could play freely," he said.

"I know that my game matches up well with his, but that doesn't mean I'm going to beat him all the time. Look what happened with Gonzalez. You think you have a guy under control. It turns around."

Next up for Federer is a last-four clash with world number two Rafael Nadal.

"I'm very excited to actually play against him. It's always nice for the best two to be playing against each other in the last tournament of the season," added Federer.