MIAMI, April 3 (UPI) -- Andy Roddick reached the semifinals of the Sony Ericsson Open Thursday by beating world No. 1 Roger Federer for the first time in 12 tries.
The 11-match losing streak, which dated from 2003, came to an end with Roddick pulling out a thrilling 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-3 decision.
Roddick had only one break-point opportunity in the entire match, but he converted it to take a 5-3 lead in the third set. After letting two match points get away, Roddick made good on the third one with his 17th ace of the evening.
Seeded sixth in this event, Roddick will take on fourth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko in the semifinals. Davydenko coasted past Janko Tipsarevic 6-2, 6-1.
Federer, the winner of 12 major championships, lost to Roddick for only the second time in 17 career meetings. This was Federer's fourth loss of the year and he has yet to appear in a final.
Roddick had lost 10 straight sets to Federer before winning the first-set tiebreak in Thursday's duel.
Federer won this tournament in 2005 and 2006 and Roddick was the champion in 2004.
Friday's other semifinal will send No. 2 seed Rafael Nadal against 10th-seeded Tomas Berdych.
