Djokovic takes time before win in quarters

NEW YORK — Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce.

Facing a set point in a tight tiebreaker in the U.S. Open quarterfinals Thursday night, Novak Djokovic kept dribbling the ball, bouncing it 28 times in all.

Eventually, he tossed the ball overhead — and hit a fault. Djokovic cut his total to 13 bounces, hit a 113 mph second serve, and won the point, part of a 6-4, 7-6 (7), 6-1 victory over Carlos Moya to reach a third consecutive Grand Slam semifinal.

"This is just a matter of concentration. I'm trying to really focus and not irritate anybody. Sorry if I'm a bit annoying," Djokovic said. "The thing is, I want to stay longer on this court, so that's why I'm bouncing more and more."

Prodded by a TV interviewer, Djokovic stuck around after the match to treat the fans to two of his impressions of other players. First he did his take on Maria Sharapova, then Rafael Nadal — getting both exactly right, to loud laughs from the crowd. If you missed it, do a search for Djokovic's name on YouTube.

He does a marvelous impersonation of a top tennis player when it counts, too, as he's proved all season.

Unlike at the French Open, where he lost to No. 2 Nadal, and at Wimbledon, where he stopped because of an injury while losing to Nadal, Djokovic will finally face a different foe.

In Saturday's semifinals, he'll meet No. 15 David Ferrer — who just happens to be the man who ran Nadal ragged in the Open's fourth round. Ferrer reached his first major semifinal by beating No. 20 Juan Ignacio Chela 6-2, 6-3, 7-5 Thursday.

Top-ranked Roger Federer is in his record 14th Grand Slam semifinal in a row and plays No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko on Saturday. Federer is 9-0 against Davydenko, and hasn't fared too poorly against the semifinalists on the other side of the draw — he's 7-0 against Ferrer, 4-1 against Djokovic.

Djokovic's one victory over Federer came in their most recent meeting, in the final of a hard-court tournament in Montreal last month. It was at that event that Djokovic became the first man since 1994 to defeat men ranked Nos. 1-3 at the same tournament.

That counted as Djokovic's breakthrough moment. It also gave him four titles in 2007, and his 57 match wins through Thursday rank second only to Nadal.

Federer took Thursday off, skipping practice and resting, a day after improving to 14-1 against 2003 U.S. Open champion Andy Roddick by beating him in straight sets.

Venus Williams, though, was out on the practice courts in the late afternoon, preparing for her semifinal Friday against No. 1 Justine Henin. After eliminating Serena Williams in her previous match, Henin will try to become only the second woman to beat both sisters at the same Grand Slam tournament.

The other women's semifinal is 2004 U.S. Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova against No. 6 Anna Chakvetadze.