In one hour and 33 minutes, Andy defeated Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in straight sets, 7-6(2), 6-1, to reach his third SAP Open final. Though the Spaniard put up a fight to the very last point, Andy controlled play the second set and sealed the semifinal deal to face Radek Stepanek for the title.

The first set was tight for the entire hour of play it took to determine the winner, with a single break point the entire match at 4-3 that Andy couldn’t capitalize on. Garcia-Lopez and Andy went point for point on the Spaniard’s racquet, though Andy easily held at 5-4. Determined to take the first set, Andy fought to deuce from 40-love, though Garcia-Lopez wasn’t being broken and held. The two found themselves in a tie-break. At 3-2, Andy broke Garcia-Lopez not once but twice to lead 5-2. With the set on our American firepower’s racquet, an ace and a winner won it for him, 7-6(2).

Still on fire from the ‘breaker, Andy stepped up to the baseline and received like a champ to immediately break Garcia-Lopez. The message was clear that Andy was on fire and there was no cooling his game down. Andy held and sealed the lead with ace number 11, 2-0. Garcia-Lopez got on the board for the last time at 2-1, though he earned a chance to break back but it slipped between his strings, as Andy continued to put on the pressure and come up with the winners. Though the Spaniard was now down, he was not out and fought tooth and nail to keep Andy from jumping ahead again, though he was unsuccessful. Solidifying the lead at 4-1, Garcia-Lopez rallied to deuce but couldn’t come up with the goods. At 5-1, a deuce could have sent this set either way. As Andy earned the advantage and match point, he didn’t need more than one chance to get it done and took home the “W”.

Let’s keep out fingers crossed that this fire in Andy’s game comes out one more day to take home his third SAP Open title. Andy and Stepanek will be facing off tomorrow, Sunday, at 3pm and you can tune in both online or on TV. Stay tuned for a final preview. Go Andy!