With the match locked at 4-4 in the deciding third set, Roddick elected to drop deeper behind the baseline to return the Belgian’s serve. He was rewarded with a break and he then served it out to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Roddick set up a semifinal against sixth-seeded Mardy Fish, who cruised past fellow American Taylor Dent 6-3, 6-0. Fish is targetting back-to-back titles after winning on grass a fortnight earlier in Newport, Rhode Island.
A third American, John Isner, also progressed to the semfinals, quickly escaping the breathless heat by beating Michael Russell 6-1, 6-2 in less than an hour. Isner’s semifinal opponent will be South Africa’s Kevin Anderson, who defeat Slovakia’s Lukas Lacko 6-3, 6-4.
Roddick improved to 9-0 on the ATP tour against Malisse, but he struggled in the first set with two double faults and had problems throughout the match in earning just six of 38 first-return points.
However Roddick, the tour leader this year with a 28-4 record on hard courts, never lost the power of his serve and finished with 17 aces.
Bopanna-Vliegen in semis
Rohan Bopanna and Kristof Vliegen overcame a first set deficit to beat Jonathan Erlich and Janko Tipsarevic and book a doubles semifinal berth in the Atlanta Championships.
Bopanna and his Belgian partner scored a 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 10-8 win over the Israeli-Serbian pair in the quarterfinals of the $531,000 hard court event.