Andy Roddick, via d.yimg.com

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WASHINGTON--Andy Roddick made his fifth semifinal at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington, beating Ivo Karlovic 7-6(4), 7-6(5) in front of a sell-out crowd of 7,500 on Friday night. 

Tiebreaks are the order of business in any Roddick-Karlovic match, but the two took  more roundabout paths to the end of each set tonight.  Karlovic broke at 2-1 in the first and in the first game of the second set.  Roddick broke back a few games later each time, making it four breaks total on the match.

To put into perspective just how bizarre that was, in the previous five matches the two had played, there were only three total breaks.  All of those belonged to Roddick.

The difference for Roddick on return seemed to be his ability to take relative advantage of Karlovic's second serve.  The Croat made only 59% of his first serves, and Roddick was able to win 53% of those points, including two in the first set tiebreak and one in the second, the only three minibreaks in either match.

"You're at his mercy on his first serve," Roddick said after the match.  "You're just reacting.  The second serve is definitely the opportunity to win the point."

"I think we were both getting a better hit on returns than we normally do against each other."

There was a strange dust-up midway through the first set, with Roddick upset at how much time chair umpire Norm Chryst was allowing Ivo Karlovic to deliberate before challenging a call.  However, instead of complaining to Chryst,

"I don't know what he was doing," Karlovic said about the incident.  "I don't know.  I don't know what's wrong with him.  It was a surprise."

"Ivo and I were laughing about it just now," Roddick said in his press conference, which followed Karlovic's.  "He's well within his rights to do whatever the ref is gonna let him do."