March 17, 2007	Saturday	Safar 27, 1428

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INDIAN WELLS (California), March 16: Andy Roddick and Rafael Nadal stepped up their bids for their first ATP titles of the year with straight set victories on Thursday at the Pacific Life Open.

Roddick defeated Ivan Ljubicic 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (10-8) winning the battle of big servers to move to the semi-finals where he will play Nadal, who overpowered Juan Ignacio Chela 7-5, 7-5 in an earlier match.

Roddick has not lost a set in the hardcourt tournament as he fired eight aces and 32 winners in front of a crowd of about 11,000 at the main Indian Wells Tennis Garden stadium on Thursday.

Nadal and Roddick have not played since the 2004 Davis Cup final, where Nadal avenged a loss to Roddick in the US Open two months earlier with a four-set victory.

The 24-year-old American and former world No 1 Roddick is seeking his 22nd career singles title.

Ljubicic fought off three match points in a thrilling second set tiebreak before Roddick clinched the victory on the fourth match point when the Croatian's final shot sailed wide.

Nadal and Roddick are trying to take advantage of the early elimination of Swiss superstar Roger Federer who lost in the second round. The men's semi-finals are scheduled for Saturday with the final on Sunday.

In the women's side of the draw, Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova overcame an opening-set loss and a problematic toe to post a victory over Nicole Vaidisova in the quarter-finals.

Kuznetsova, who recently regained her career-high world No 4 ranking after a successful swing through the Middle East tournaments, defeated 17-year-old Czech Vaidisova 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Kuznetsova, the 2004 US Open champion, also moves to the semi-finals where she will play Sybille Bammer.

At one point in Thursday's match Kuznetsova had to remove part of a broken nail on one of her right toes that had worked itself loose.

Kuznetsova continued her mastery over world No 10 Vaidisova, winning all three of their career meetings.

This was a repeat of last year's Roland Garros semi-final and the first time they had met outside of a Grand Slam. Kuznetsova also won on the grass at Wimbledon in 2005.

Bammer of Austria defeated France's Tatiana Golovin 6-2, 6-3 to reach the semi-finals.

With most of the women's top seeds either skipping this event or eliminated already, the quarter-final match between Bammer and Golovin was played in front of a sparse crowd of about 400 at the main stadium.

Thursday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Men’s singles:

Quarter-finals: 3-Andy Roddick (U.S.) beat 8-Ivan Ljubicic (Croatia) 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (10-8); 2-Rafael Nadal (Spain) beat 30-Juan Ignacio Chela (Argentina) 7-5, 7-5.

Women’s singles:

Quarter-finals: 33-Sybille Bammer (Austria) beat 13-Tatiana Golovin (France) 6-2, 6-3; 2-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) beat 6-Nicole Vaidisova (Czech Republic) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.—Agencies