U.S. Open forecast calls for more Roger Federer

Reporting from New York

Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor hail shall keep Roger Federer from his appointed rounds.

Which is to perform majestically at the U.S. Open.

Except for the one unexplainable burp in last year’s final, when Juan Martin del Potro won the last two sets and the title, Federer has virtually owned the center court and the center stage here since 2004. That encompassed five straight titles and 40 straight matches until Del Potro did the unthinkable.

Some saw that as the beginning of the decline of the maestro. Those would get a vehement argument from the 23,781 who saw Federer demolish Robin Soderling in the late quarterfinal match on Arthur Ashe Court on Wednesday night.

If this was a player in decline, we should all have what he has for breakfast.

It was a night when the temperatures dipped and the wind swirled and puffed and gusted and generally made things miserable for anybody trying to hit a tennis ball, much less make a service toss. Except Federer, who hit 18 aces, 36 winners and won 50 of 58 first-serve points.

“He’s a good wind player,” said Soderling, in a fairly masterful understatement from somebody who had just been beaten, 6-4, 6-4, 7-5, in just under two hours.

In his on-court, post-match interview, Federer agreed that the conditions were tough. He was praised for his amazing serving performance and brushed that off with a verbal shrug.

“I’ve been practicing serves all my life,” he said. “If I can’t hit a serve in the wind, there is something wrong with me. Wake me up at 2 in the morning, 4 in the morning, I can hit a serve.”

There had been more than the normal pre-match buzz for this one, because Soderling, the 6-foot-4 Swede who has moved up the rankings to No. 5, had beaten Federer in the quarterfinals of the French Open this year. That kept Federer from defending his title , ended his streak of 23 semifinal appearances in majors and certainly stuck in his craw, although he wouldn’t go there either before or after his match Wednesday night.

“I don’t need any sort of revenge motive,” Federer said, “I just love playing in a stadium in front of all those people. I love tennis. That’s enough.”

Federer has now beaten Soderling 13 of 14 times, including the 2009 final at Roland Garros, when he completed his career grand slam.

The match began with the Great One in the crowd, and Wayne Gretzky would be the first to acknowledge the greatness on the court. Federer was both good, and fortunate.

In the first set, he challenged on a line call on break point in the second game, won the challenge when the Hawkeye camera showed the ball in by perhaps an eighth of an inch, held serve in that game, then broke serve five games later when his drop shot on break point cleared the net by perhaps a similar eighth of an inch.

From this point henceforth, Soderling started looking skyward a lot, possibly forgetting that the tennis deity was across the net.

In the second set, Soderling was serving at 2-2 and 40-love when Federer floated back a short lob, into the wind. Soderling charged it, let it bounce, and then, as the wind blew it forward, hit his overhead into the bottom of the net. Then, of course, Federer ran off four straight points for the break.

At times, it almost looked as if Federer was toying with Soderling. When he served for the second set at 5-4, he hit two aces at 127 mph, plus a service winner at 129.

In the third set, Soderling got up a break and served for the set at 5-3. Federer got a break point and in the middle of that point, as Soderling was about to hit a forehand, a ruckus broke out in the second deck and Soderling missed. Security escorted several spectators out and Soderling might have wished they had taken him along too.

Federer held to 5-5, then broke Soderling by sending a 128-mph first serve back faster than it came. In shock, Soderling hit a backhand wide.

Federer’s service game for the match included a 107 ace, a 122 ace and a 122 first serve and forehand winner.

As always, it was surgical.

Federer’s success in New York is certainly enhanced by his years of experience in the Grand Slam that both embraces and tortures.

“It’s been a tough tournament so far,” he said. “We’ve had heat, now wind. There is always something happening. I expect something else will Saturday.”

That’s when he’ll play his semifinal against Serb Novak Djokovic, who has also experienced the all-powerful hand of Federer at the U.S. Open.

In their last three encounters here, Djokovic has lost in the finals (2007), the semifinals (‘08) and the semifinals (‘09).

Assuming form holds, and top-seeded Rafael Nadal gets through on the other side of the draw, the U.S. Open will have its dream Federer-Nadal matchup in the final.

It’ll probably snow.

bill.dwyre@latimes.com.