Top-seeded Andy Roddick will meet defending champion Radek Stepanek in the final of the Brisbane International after rallying for a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over fourth-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic on Saturday.
The 27-year-old American beat Frenchman Richard Gasquet in the quarterfinals Friday night and endured a 2-hour, 8-minute semifinal against Berdych in humid conditions starting about 14 hours later.
Roddick dropped serve twice in the opening set, when he didn't convert any of his four breakpoint chances. But he rebounded to break Berdych's serve once in each of the second and third sets and held on for the win.
``I like to confuse and conquer sometimes,'' Roddick joked of his lapse in the first set. ``I didn't feel like I was hitting the ball that badly, but he played really well.
``I think the biggest part of the match was the first couple of games of the second set, where I didn't want to let him keep rolling ... to stop the momentum early in the second.''
Roddick is playing singles and doubles here in his first tournament back from a left knee injury he sustained in October, hoping to get as much conditioning in this week leading up to the Australian Open which starts Jan. 18 in Melbourne. That means he could have four matches this weekend, but he said he saw that as an opportunity, not a problem.
``Hopefully I'll have a chance to add some titles this weekend. It'll be nice,'' he said. ``I wanted to come here and play well, get better with each match and get matches in. That's my biggest thing. I'd love to win here. The goal is to be prepared for Melbourne and I feel like that has been accomplished for the most part.
``Now the business end of the tournament, you want to try to go as far as you can.''
Stepanek easily beat Frenchman Gael Monfils 6-2, 6-1 in an hour in the first semifinal.
Monfils seemed dazed by some of Stepanek's returns, shaking his head in disbelief several times and tapping his racket against his forehead. He also seemed to be bothered by strapping on his right shoulder. Trailing 5-0 in the second set, Monfils looked upwards and smiled when he finally won his first game of the set.
Stepanek said everybody had niggles at the start of the season, and preferred to focus on how he won rather than how Monfils was handling any possible injury.
``When I broke him to go 4-0 up in the second set ... I think he knew breaking me twice to get back into the match would be a very difficult thing,'' Stepanek said. ``I think I also broke him mentally then.''
The men's final will be Sunday. The all-Belgian women's final between Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin, both coming back from retirement, will be Saturday night.
