Tough road to hoe

Federer's path to Open title littered with former No. 1's

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- At last year's Tennis Masters Cup in Houston, Roger Federer faced Andre Agassi, David Nalbandian and Juan Carlos Ferrero in consecutive matches.

He beat them all, then Andy Roddick in the semifinal and Agassi in the final, to move to No. 2 in the rankings.

This week at the Australian Open, Federer has already faced Lleyton Hewitt and Nalbandian. If he beats Ferrero in Friday's semifinal, he'll take the No. 1 ranking vacated by Roddick, who lost in the quarterfinals.

And he may have to beat Agassi again to win the Australian Open.

"That is tough, especially over five sets, every second day," Federer said of his second-week schedule at the Australian Open. "But I feel like I definitely got the game to beat Ferrero."

Wimbledon champion Federer beat Nalbandian in four sets while French Open winner Ferrero defeated Hicham Arazi in straight sets to set up the semifinal showdown.

The winner will advance to meet the winner of Thursday's late semifinal between Agassi and Marat Safin.

Ferrero was replaced atop the ATP Tour rankings by Roddick late last season. But Roddick will drop after losing to Safin in the quarterfinals.

Ferrero needs to beat Federer and then Agassi or Safin in the final to return to No. 1. Federer will get there for the first time if he beats Ferrero.

Federer, 22, is the only man in the last four who hasn't held the No. 1 ranking. He feels Nalbandian's quarterfinal has given him a perfect entree into his match against Ferrero -- putting him in the groove against baseliners.

"Yes, that will help me because they run down a lot of balls," said Federer. "I always have to hit not only one winner to win the point, it's many. This will be similar to Juan Carlos."

Federer says Ferrero's game is simple, in theory.

"He's got such a forehand, good backhand, he can hit winners off both sides," said Ferrero. "It kind of makes the game easier."

Ferrero also outlined Federer's strengths.

"He can do every shot when he wants to," said Ferrero. "Always difficult to return his serves. And he does amazing shots whenever he wants."

Career meetings between the two are tied at 3-3. Ferrero won the first two meetings in 2000 at Auckland and the U.S. Open on hardcourts, but Federer won the next two -- on hardcourts at the 2002 Masters Cup and last year in Rome on clay.

But Ferrero came back to beat Federer on hardcourts at Madrid before losing to the Swiss player at the Masters Cup.

"Last year is last year," said Ferrero. "I have to forget Masters Cup, maybe Davis Cup [where Spain lost to Australia in the final at Melbourne Park]."

Ferrero feels he could go all the way at the Australian Open.

"I'm playing very good, very solid, very strong," said Ferrero. "I'm serving good. I think I have a chance to win."

Federer will take some inspiration from his first -- and only appearance -- in a Grand Slam semifinal -- last year at Wimbledon, where he completely dominated Roddick to win in straight sets before beating Mark Philippoussis in the final.

"I've definitely got the game to raise at the occasion, I've shown it in the past" said Federer. "When it gets important, I play well."