Thursday's 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 victory against the experienced Swede Jonas Bjorkman showed just how far he has come in the intervening period, and why he is now the favourite to go on and claim the Wimbledon crown he dreamt of as a kid.

The wily Bjorkman is exactly the kind of player Roddick may have once self-destructed against, as he did in their only previous meeting last year, but the popular 20-year-old has proved over the last three weeks that he has grown up.

With his service and returning working like a dream, Roddick did not give the Swede a sniff during a 92-minute exhibition that augurs well for his semi-final meeting with fourth seed Roger Federer on Friday.

Since an abject first-round defeat by Sargis Sargsian at Roland Garros the American has won 10 consecutive matches, all on grass. The run has coincided with hiring Brad Gilbert as his coach.

"He definitely has a big part in it you know," said Roddick. "I didn't do too well in my last Grand Slam, then he comes along and we click. It's definitely a team effort.

"We have a lot of common things that we're interested in, he knows all the sports scores first thing in the morning, we can talk about baseball and all that stuff.

"There's never a shortage of conversation."

PHENOMENAL SERVING

While much of the focus falls on Roddick's phenomenal serving -- he averaged 123 miles per hour (197.9 kph) on first serve and served 13 aces against Bjorkman -- it is the improvement in his all-round game that has been the key to his progress through a treacherous draw at Wimbledon.

Gone are the days when he would try and hit a winner on every service return, instead he picks his moments to unleash his ferocious array of passing shots.

"This year I'm trying to put more returns in court, trying to stay a bit more on an even keel," said Roddick, explaining his new solidity.

"I'm normally confident with my serve, I'm serving well right now. But there are a lot of big servers out there. I think it's the other things that I've been doing that have put me in this position."

The stage may be set for Roddick's crowning as the latest in a long line of American heroes, but the down-to-earth Nebraskan is determined to keep his feet on the ground.

Expensive watches are not on his shopping list yet, in fact he is quite happy wearing his trusty elastic band round his wrist.

"I'm stepping it up in the jewelry department," he said. "I'm still going with these, you can buy 100 of them for 50 cents. You got to keep it tight though, can't have any looseness going on."

He could have been describing his tennis.