SAN JOSE, California (AP) - Top-seeded Andy
Roddick will meet Radek Stepanek in the final of the SAP Open,
as both overwhelmed semifinal opponents after hard-fought starts
on Saturday.
Roddick, the tournament winner in 2004 and 2005,
beat Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 7-6 (2), 6-1, backing up his
big serve with consistently deep groundstrokes that had
Garcia-Lopez working hard for every rare opening.
Stepanek had an exciting comeback victory over
Robby Ginepri, winning 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-1.
Roddick has a 3-0 career record over Stepanek,
including a victory in Washington last year which Roddick won
6-3, 1-6, 7-5.
"He probably should have won that one. I was a
little bit of smoke and mirrors that match. I was holding a pair
of twos and he just didn't know it," poker enthusiast Roddick
said.
The final sets up a contrast in styles with
Roddick booming serve and Stepanek's smooth court coverage and
steady net game.
Stepanek shouldn't expect too many lobs if he
gets to the net against Roddick. The American hit two beauties
against Garcia-Lopez, turning around crucial points.
"In haven't hit a lob since I was 12. So to have
like two in one game, I was thinking about sending my brother
out to buy a lottery ticket," Roddick joked.
After a tight first set, the second set found
Garcia-Lopez in trouble from the outset. The lanky Spaniard,
ranked No. 75 and unseeded in the tournament, was broken in the
first game and never recouped his form from the first set.
In the other semifinal, the crafty Stepanek used
a mix of deep groundstrokes and frequent drop shots to beat
American Ginepri.
Ginepri won the first set tiebreaker, but the
Czech held serve on a crucial early game in the second set to
mount his comeback.
"I was facing two break points. That was a very
important point in the match," Stepanek said, acknowledging that
Ginepri had him on the ropes.
After Ginepri lost serve to fall behind 0-2 in
the final set, he slammed his racket to the court, breaking it
and getting a code violation warning from the chair umpire.
"At 0-3 I played a couple of flaky points, and
you just can't give guys at this level the opportunity to take
advantage," Ginepri said.