Roddick Into the San Jose Semifinals; Ginepri Upsets Blake

Top seed Andy Roddick and No. 4 seed Radek Stepanek are featured in semifinal action on Saturday at the SAP Open in San Jose.

The first of the singles finals sees fourth-seeded Czech Radek Stepanek take on American wild card Robby Ginepri. Their two previous meetings have been shared, with Ginepri winning on hard court at ATP Masters Series Cincinnati five years ago and Stepanek winning on grass at Wimbledon in 2005. The 29-year-old Stepanek is making his debut in San Jose this week and has recorded victories over Paul Capdeville, Bobby Reynolds and Yen-Hsun Lu en route to the semifinals.

It is World No. 34 Stepanek’s second appearance (0-1) in an ATP semifinal this season having reached the last four in Sydney (l. to Guccione) at the beginning of the campaign. He last reached an ATP singles final in Los Angeles last year when he defeated James Blake to claim his second career ATP title. World No. 138 Ginepri recorded his first victory against a Top 10 player since 2006 ATP Masters Series Madrid when he defeated No. 9 James Blake in the semifinals yesterday; he has also recorded victories over Jesse Witten and No. 8 seed Kristof Vliegen this week. The 25-year-old was a semifinalist in Delray Beach last week (l. to Blake); he last won an ATP semifinal in 2005 when he went on to win the Indianapolis title (d. Dent).

The evening session semifinal features top-seeded American Andy Roddick against Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. Roddick won their one previous encounter, in straight sets in the first round in San Jose two years ago. The Texan has come through some tight encounters en route to the semifinals this week, edging past Chris Guccione in a third set tie-break in the first round and defeating Mardy Fish in the third set in yesterday’s quarterfinal; he defeated Delray Beach champion Kei Nishikori in the second round. The 25-year-old is a two-time former champion in San Jose, lifting the trophy in 2004 (d. Fish) and 2005 (d. Saulnier); with three semifinals on top of that his tournament record stands at 23-4. The World No. 6 is contesting his first ATP semifinal of the season having lost third round in Melbourne (in five sets to Kohlshcreiber); he is bidding to make his first final since Washington last year when he defeated John Isner to claim his 23rd career singles title.

The 24-year-old Garcia-Lopez is through to his semifinal in San Jose, having lost first round on his previous two visits in 2007 (l. to Karlovic) and 2006 (l. to Roddick). He has battled through this week, contesting six tie-break sets (4-2) in defeating No. 6 seed Jurgen Melzer, Benjamin Becker and John Isner. The World No. 75 is contesting his first ATP-level semifinal since 2006 Delray Beach (l. to Malisse) and is searching for his maiden ATP singles final spot. The La Roda resident has chalked up an 8-3 season, having made the quarterfinals in Chennai (l. to Nadal) and enjoyed a career-best Australian Open where he reached the third round for the first time (l. to Tsonga). He has a 2-10 record against Top 10 players, his last victory coming against No. 9 Andre Agassi in the 2006 Delray Beach quarterfinals; he has lost his past nine. (ATP Digital Services)