Roddick sets up clash with Nadal

If not completely banished, consider the ghost of Davis Cup past relegated to a side court.

Third-seeded Andy Roddick sent it there with riveting tiebreakers, a dominant serve and a varied attack against his Croatian Davis Cup nemesis, No. 8 Ivan Ljubicic, and won, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (8), in the quarterfinals of the Pacific Life Open on Thursday night.

One hint of Roddick’s dominance: He has not faced a break point in four matches. He had eight aces against Ljubicic.

This was the first time Roddick and Ljubicic have met in Southern California since they played two years ago in the first round of the Davis Cup in Carson. Though not quite the nadir of Roddick’s career, the five-set loss to Ljubicic -- which decided the weekend tie -- cut deeply.

And so, one intriguing match leads to another: Roddick will face No. 2 Rafael Nadal in Saturday’s semifinals. Earlier, Nadal beat Juan Ignacio Chela, 7-5, 7-5, rallying from a 1-4 deficit in the second set, making up for his showing on the golf course Wednesday.

“Very bad result, hard time. Twenty-one over par,” Nadal said.

Roddick and Nadal have not played since the 2004 Davis Cup final in Spain, a match Nadal won on clay.

“Needless to say, I didn’t enjoy that one too much,” Roddick said in his interview on the court.

He then mentioned the absence of No. 1-ranked Roger Federer, who lost Sunday, noting the grand opportunity for the likes of himself and Nadal.

Federer was not far from Nadal’s thoughts, either.

“Roddick or Ljubicic, I will see in semifinals,” Nadal said. “That’s a good result, maybe, for anyone. Not for Federer, but for the rest.”

Roddick spoke about the matchup vs. Nadal: “I understand he passes well and that he moves real well, but that being said, I have to move forward and have to play aggressive against him.... Obviously one of his strengths is retrieving. But he bullies around his fair share of points.”

Roddick-Ljubicic greatly livened up the proceedings at Indian Wells Tennis Garden. A crowd of about 13,500 was on hand and Roddick called the atmosphere “electric.”

The elusive buzz finally arrived for Roddick-Ljubicic, after staying in hiding for Nicole Vaidisova-Svetlana Kuznetsova, Sybille Bammer-Tatiana Golovin, even Nadal-Chela. The crowd for Bammer-Golovin appeared to be in the hundreds.

In the quarterfinals, No. 2 Kuznetsova defeated No. 6 Vaidisova, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, and Bammer beat No. 13 Golovin, 6-2, 6-3.

Bammer, of Austria, is one of the few mothers on the tour and she brought her 5-year-old daughter into the interview room. Young Tina, clad mostly in pink, played with her mother’s credential, fiddled with the microphone and put her own cap over her face.

“All the other players I think like Tina because she’s not doing bad things,” Bammer said. “ ... And they speak with her, also, and so Tina, she learns English already.”

Any baby-sitters among the players on the tour? “She likes, of course, the German-speaking players, but she also likes other players,” Bammer said.

Tina whispered into her mother’s ear, and Sybille said, helpfully: “She said Martina Hingis ... they spoke together, and we were sitting on one table and they ate cake together last year.”

lisa.dillman@latimes.com