12 June 2004	Saturday	23 Rabi-us-Saani 1425

LONDON, June 11: Andy Roddick smashed his way into the semifinals of the Stella Artois championships on Friday, destroying Paradorn Srichaphan and cracking down the world's fastest serve along the way.

His record-breaking 153 miles per hour (246.2 km/h) pile driver - one mile an hour quicker than his previous best - came at the beginning of the second set as he walloped the Thai 6-3, 6-3.

Standing between Roddick and the defence of his title, however, is Lleyton Hewitt and the Australian extended his phenomenal Queen's Club record earlier in the day. Seeded sixth this year, the three-time champion beat in-form Russian Igor Andreev 6-3, 7-5 for a place in the last four.

Friday's results (prefix number denotes seeding):

QUARTERFINALS: 1-Andy Roddick (US) beat 7-Paradorn Srichaphan (Thailand) 6-3, 6-3; 6-Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) beat Igor Andreev (Russia) 6-3, 7-5.

FEDERER THROUGH

HALLE: World number one and defending champion Roger Federer advanced comfortably to the semi-finals of the Halle Open, defeating France's Arnaud Clement 6-3, 7-5.

Sixth-seeded American Mardy Fish also eased into the semi-finals with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Spain's Fernando Verdasco.

Friday's results:

QUARTERFINALS: 1-Roger Federer (Switzerland) beat Arnaud Clement (France) 6-3, 7-5; 3-Jiri Novak (Czech Republic) beat Tommy Haas (Germany) 6-4, 7-6 (7-1); 2-Rainer Schuettler (Germany) beat Nicolas Kiefer (Germany) 6-3, 7-6 (7-2); 6-Mardy Fish (US) beat Fernando Verdasco (Spain) 6-2, 6-2.

BIRMINGHAM: Collated results on Friday from the WTA tournament

QUARTERFINALS: Tatiana Golovin (France) beat Anne Kremer (Luxembourg) 6-4, 7-5; 3-Maria Sharapova (Russia) beat 8-Alicia Molik (Australia) 6-3, 6-1; 9-Emilie Loit (France) beat Tamarine Tanasugarn (Thailand) 6-2, 6-4; 2-Patty Schnyder (Switzerland) beat Saori Obata (Japan) 6-3, 6-4. -Agencies