BEIJING, Sept 27 (AFP): Andy Roddick was forced to dig deep to beat his unfancied opponent in his China Open semi-final Saturday as women's top seed Jelena Jankovic continued her march towards the title.
The big-serving American battled to a 6-2, 6-7 (4-7), 6-1 win against 137-ranked Bjorn Phau while Jankovic staved off a spirited fightback from Vera Zvonareva on the women's side.
Germany's Phau -- ranked 129 places below Roddick -- came into this tournament without a single win on the ATP tour this season but frustrated the second seed with a battling performance.
Roddick hurled his racket to the ground in frustration after losing the second set tie-break but broke Phau's serve three times in the decider.
In the final, Roddick will meet Israel's Dudi Sela, who reached his first ATP final with a 6-3, 6-3 win over seventh seed and Wimbledon semi-finalist Rainer Schuettler.
Sela, who earlier dumped world number five David Ferrer and sixth seed Tommy Robredo from the Beijing tournament, was quickly into his stride, breaking the error-prone Schuettler three times in the opening set.
The 23-year-old kept up his intensity in the second set, forcing what proved to be a decisive break in the sixth game.
He said reaching an ATP final had been a "dream" since breaking into the top 100 of the world rankings.
"Before the match I was very nervous because I wanted to be in the final," he said, adding now he had "nothing to lose."
Jankovic, Roddick in China tennis Open final
FE Team | Published: September 28, 2008 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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