On a day when high profile coaches and the roles they play are very much in focus, it is curious to note that Andy Roddick is the first player definitely through to Saturday’s semi-finals of the Tennis Masters Cup, he has done it with Jimmy Connors sitting at home in California.

There are of course many who insist Roddick does not require a lot of coaching, the American’s game stands or falls on how well he serves and he knows only one way to play and that is full out. Pose him a difficult scenario and recent years have proven that he has few tactical alternatives to fall back upon.

Nevertheless, regardless of how well Roddick does in his remaining round-robin qualifying match against Roger Federer – and let us remember that the Swiss has been triumphant in all but one of their 15 meetings and extended his winning streak to ten at the US Open’s quarter final stage a couple of months ago – he is in an unassailable position. And that should have made delightful viewing for Connors as he sat in front of his television set and waited for the telephone to ring.

In much the same way as it seems Andy Murray has recently come to the conclusion, Roddick decided that his previous coaching arrangement with Brad Gilbert had run its course after little more than 16 months together. After a slightly longer, if distinctly less intense liaison with Connors, there does not seem any discernable difference to the basic Roddick game plan. However he seems far more content with the arrangement.

Connors may not see the need to be in China but he is perfectly prepared to have his sleep patterns affected. “He got up at one in the morning and watched the match live,” said Roddick. “He said he was happy with what he saw; the way I was playing pretty aggressively.”

It is not revolutionary analysis to report that an aggressive Roddick is a happy Roddick but while so many of his peers at this event are struggling to produce one last semblance of fitness after arduous schedules, Roddick is benefitting from his decision to skip the last two Masters series events of the calendar in Madrid and Paris in order to be fresh for both this tournament and the upcoming Davis Cup final between the United States and Russia in Portland Oregon.

The decision clearly did not sit comfortably with either the ATP hierarchy or the respective tournament directors but there was certainly a hint of Connors guile in the tactic and Roddick admitted: “I'm here, I'm pretty eager. Now there's no reason for me to be nervous against Roger. I can go out there and let it fly, go for my shots, play aggressive and try to knock him out.”

Certainly Roddick must be happy with the statistics of his 6-1, 6-4 win over Gonzalez who was clearly still suffering from the emotional and physical aftermath of beating Federer two nights previously. The Texas-based right hander committed only seven unforced errors and though he only unleashed four aces, he did not yield a solitary break point and got 65 per cent of his first serves into play.

Given the fact that Federer was still considerably short of his imperious best in his 6-4,6-3 win over a barely competitive Nikolay Davydenko, a similar set of statistics will give Roddick an excellent opportunity although the world no.1 must win to merit a spot in the semi-finals.

Always one to try and inject a little humorous self-deprecation into his press conferences, Roddick’s face beamed into a wide grin when he was asked how he would plan his upcoming confrontation with Federer. “Very carefully,” laughed the man who is widely believed to have no Plan B. Jimmy Connors, by now safely tucked up in bed again on the opposite side of the Pacific Ocean, would doubtless not beg to differ.