Flash8 :: Vector Calculation Formulas?

I'm making a game based on pong. At the start of a round, the ball will go in a random direction and when the ball hits a paddle the ball will move in a certain direction depending where it hit the paddle. The more centralized the hit is, the more straight the bounce is. Here's the tricky bit: the ball may hit either a vertical or horizontal paddle and I want the xspeed(horizontal movement) or yspeed(vertical movement) of the ball to increase/decrease in proportion to the opposite speed while keeping the same general speed of the ball(it can decrease and increase). Here's an example(you might want to get a pen/pencil and a piece of paper):

Let's say the ball is moving at 45 degrees(so it's going downward right) and hits a horizontal paddle smack dab in the middle, thus it goes at 270 degrees(straight up). So, at first the xspeed and yspeed are both the same, then the xspeed is zero and the yspeed is at the max(to the general speed).However, let's say that the ball hits the same paddle but at the edge(either edge will do the same) thus making the ball go at a near 360 degree angle, making the xspeed near max and yspeed almost zero. Like I said, I want the two speeds to increase/decrease in proportion to the general speed, this is so that xspeed or the yspeed don't exceed the general speed.