Roddick, Stepanek Meet Sunday for San Jose Title

Bidding for his third title in San Jose, and his fifth indoors, top-seeded American Andy Roddick takes on fourth-seeded Czech Radek Stepanek in the final of the SAP Open on Sunday.

Roddick has won their previous three encounters against Stepanek, once on hard court in ’07 Washington, and twice on grass at ’05 and ’07 Queen’s Club.

World No. 6 Roddick is searching for his first title since claiming his 23rd career ATP singles title in Washington (d.Isner) last year, which was his last appearance in a title match. Roddick, formerly ranked No. 1 (3-Nov-03) in the Rankings, has a 23-13 record in ATP singles finals - 13 of his career titles have come on hard court, five on clay, one on carpet and four on grass.

The 25-year-old Roddick is a two-time former champion in San Jose, lifting the trophy in 2004 (d. Fish) and 2005 (d. Saulnier). He also has been a three-time semifinalist, losing before that stage just once (2nd RD), on his debut in 2001. With wins over Chris Guccione, Kei Nishikori, Mardy Fish and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez this week, he takes his lifetime tournament record to 24-4.

The American right-hander has an impressive 15-2 record against Czech opponents.

The 29-year-old Stepanek is appearing in his first final, and searching for his first title, since last summer when he defeated James Blake in the Los Angeles final to claim his second career ATP singles title. Stepanek, who is a former Top 10 player (No. 8 – July 10, 2006), has a 2-4 lifetime record in ATP singles finals, both have come on hard court, one indoors.

His performance in San Jose has helped chalk up an 8-3 season for Stepanek. The Czech player was a semifinalist in Sydney (l. to Guccione) at the start of the year, but lost first round in Adelaide and the Australian Open. Last season the right-hander compiled a 17-8 campaign to finish inside the Top 50 of the South African Airways ATP Rankings for the fifth straight year.

The World No. 34 Stepanek has a 14-26 against Top 10 players; his last victory came over No. 3 Nikolay Davydenko at ATP Masters Series Canada last year. (ATP Digital Services)