Top seed Roddick spent less than an hour in cleaning up the court in the battle of Wimbledon semifinalists, with Malisse taking treatment on his right hitting arm while down a set and 4-1.
Roddick’s Indianapolis debut is starting to look dominating as the 20-year-old rained down a dozen aces and faced only one break point. His reign over Malisse dates to 2000.
On Saturday the American will play Dutch danger-man Sjeng Schalken, who lost the first set in 18 minutes before waking up against Florida’s Robby Ginepri. He relied on his steady game to put him in control, but the third seed still needed eight match points to ultimately secure a 1-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory.
Roddick is keen to finish the work he has started this week in the Midwest, but the next round will be a challenge.
With the expectations that he will replace Andre Agassi as the top national hope, the young gun wants to demonstrate his prowess at home.
Frenchman Nicolas Thomann worked his own personal tennis miracle Friday, reaching the first semifinal of his eight-year career with a 7-6 (7-2), 7-5 win over German Nicolas Kiefer.
The 30-year-old Thomann from the tri-border region near Germany and Switzerland had only one previous claim to fame - a win on clay in the first round of Atlanta over Agassi in 2001.
His entire season has been spent at the challenger level except for Newport a fortnight ago, when the world number 169 lost in the first round.
Thomann broke Kiefer in the seventh game of the first set, lost the lead and then thrashed through a tie-breaker, 7-2. He then broke in the final game to conclude the upset win.
His two breaks of Kiefer were enough to put him into the last four and almost doubles his season earnings. Thomann has collected 25,700 dollars so far after winning just 32,768 dollars since January.
The rank outsider will play second seed Paradorn Srichaphan.
Quarterfinal results: Paradorn Srichaphan bt Scott Draper 6-4 6-2; Andy Roddick bt Xavier Malisse 6-4 6-1; Sjeng Schalken bt Robby Ginepri 1-6 6-1 6-2; Nicolas Thomann bt Nicolas Kiefer 7-6 (7-2) 7-5
MOYA CRUSHES FERRER
UMAG (Croatia), July 26: Defending champion Carlos Moya of Spain brushed aside compatriot David Ferrer 6-1 6-2 to reach the semifinals of the $400,000 Croatia Open on Friday. The 27-year-old top seed , who has won the event three times in last seven years, was barely challenged as he set up an appetising last-four showdown with another of his compatriots, 17-year-old Rafael Nadal.
Nadal beat Magnus Norman of Sweden 6-3 6-4 in his quarterfinal on Friday.
Ferrer, seeded eight, simply made too many errors in the re-match of last year’s final, which Moya also won in straight sets.
Moya is bidding for his third ATP title this year after wins in Buenos Aires and Barcelona. A fourth win at Umag would also see him overhaul Austrian Thomas Muster who won the tournament three times in the early 1990s.
Nadal, the sixth seed, outclassed former world number two Norman, who won the tournament four years ago.
The Mallorca-born youngster knows he faces a stiff test against Moya.
Second seed Fernando Gonzalez of Chile was due to play his quarterfinal against seventh-seeded Italian Filippo Volandri later on Friday. The winner will meet Slovak Dominik Hrbaty who downed Alberto Martin of Spain 7-5 6-2.
Quarterfinal results:
Filippo Volandri bt Fernando Gonzalez 4-6 6-2 7-6 (7-4); Carlos Moya bt David Ferrer 6-1 6-2; Rafael Nadal bt Magnus Norman 6-3 6-4; Dominik Hrbaty bt Alberto Martin 7-5 6-2—Reuters