Seventh-seeded Andy Roddick easily advanced to the semifinals at the Cincinnati Masters, defeating Argentine Mariano Zabaleta 6-1, 6-2 Friday.

Andy Roddick pumps his fist after winning a point against Mariano Zabaleta, from Argentina, in a quarterfinal match at the Tennis Masters Cincinnati tournament, Friday, Aug. 15, 2003, in Mason, Ohio. [Reuters]

Roddick, who won his first Masters Series title in Montreal on Sunday, is going for his second straight hard-court victory heading into the U.S. Open. The American was cheered on by the crowd.

"That has a lot to do with playing in the States," said Roddick, who is on the verge of rock-star cult status and won't turn 21 until Aug. 30, a couple days after the U.S. Open begins.

In another match, Max Mirnyi waited out a rain delay and then upset No. 6 seed Guillermo Coria 6-2, 7-5. The unseeded Mirnyi won despite two rain delays totaling almost three hours. Only two of the 16 seeds are still in the tournament.

In the other quarterfinals, No. 8 Rainer Schuettler beat Robby Ginepri 6-2, 6-3 in an evening match. Mardy Fish beat David Nalbandian 7-6 (3), 6-3 in the last match of the night.

Roddick plays Mirnyi in one semifinal Saturday. Schuettler will meet Fish in the other. If either Roddick or Schuettler do not advance to Sunday's final, it will be the first time since unseeded Chris Lewis in 1981 that two seeded players did not make it that far. Lewis lost to No. 1 John McEnroe 6-3, 6-4.

Mirnyi, who plays a strong serve-and-volley game, thought it would be difficult for the a baseline-playing Argentine to handle.

"I wanted to continue pressing," Mirnyi said. "If I made my game work today, I was going to have a good chance."

The match was stopped because of rain the first time with Mirnyi leading 6-2, 2-2, but only for 28 minutes. Then, serving 6-2, 5-5, it began to rain again as Mirnyi and Coria played out a final point, seemingly won by Mirnyi before the players ran off the court.

When they returned 2 hours, 23 minutes later, the referee took away the point, calling it a let. It didn't seem to affect Mirnyi, who won the final two games.

This is the second Tennis Masters Series semifinal appearance for Mirnyi, who also advanced that far at Hamburg last year.

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