Mercury News: Roddick advances to SAP Open final

Andy Roddick had lost in the semifinals the previous two years in San Jose and needed to survive two three-set matches just to reach the final four in this year’s tournament. But with his game in superb form Saturday night, the top-seeded American had little trouble against Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, cruising into the SAP Open final with a 7-6 (7-2), 6-1 victory before a crowd of 6,424 at HP Pavilion.

Roddick, ranked sixth in the world, will aim to add a third San Jose trophy to his collection today when he meets No. 4 seed Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic, a 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 6-1 winner over Robby Ginepri.

Roddick blasted 16 aces and seized control of the match midway through the tiebreaker. He broke Garcia-Lopez’s serve three times in the second set.

“There are still some things to improve on, but I felt like it was solid,” Roddick said of his performance. “I did everything pretty well. I didn’t feel like I was going to lose at any point. That’s a good feeling.”

Roddick didn’t have to display much emotion against Garcia-Lopez, who is ranked No. 75. But that figures to change against Stepanek, who is all about emotion.

In some ways, Stepanek is goofy and cool at the same time. In his match Saturday, he wiggled his tongue, he grunted, he growled, he pumped his fist and he capped the victory with his traditional postmatch worm break dance.

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