Roddick beats Murray to reach Memphis final

MEMPHIS, Tennessee, Feb 25 (Reuters) Top seed Andy Roddick beat Scottish teenager Andy Murray 6-3 7-6 to reach the final of the Memphis International.

The American came from 5-3 down in the second set, saved a set point at 5-6 and then recovered from 4-1 down to win the tiebreak 7-4, gaining revenge for his defeat by the Scot at the same stage of last week's San Jose Open.

World number four Roddick will now play Tommy Haas of Germany in the final after the defending champion brushed aside American Mardy Fish 6-3 6-4.

''I think I was a little more consistent today (than in San Jose), Roddick said at an on-court interview yesterday.

''He does things sometimes out there that leave you in awe.

He tried to bait me into coming into the net and I tried to stay back a bit and tried to stay solid.'' Roddick began strongly, breaking Murray in the second game.

With the Scot missing a lot of first serves, the American hung on to take the advantage.

Murray began to put more pressure on the Roddick serve in the second set and looked to have forced a decider when he broke to lead 5-3 only to play a sloppy game and hand the top seed the break straight back.

Roddick snuffed out a set point with a strong second serve at 5-6 but then fell 4-1 behind in the tiebreak, before winning six points in a row to clinch victory, finishing off with two aces.

Fourth seed Fish was broken early in both sets and a confident Haas stormed to victory.

Haas has still not faced a single break point in the tournament and hit a series of superb passing shots as he sealed his place in the final in 70 minutes.

''It's a good feeling to be in a final again, it's been a while,'' Haas told reporters.

''(Not losing serve) doesn't happen a lot. I don't know if it happened in the tournaments I won. It definitely feels good.'' A break in the second game was enough to give Haas the first set and a double fault at the start of the second set gave the German world number nine the advantage again.

World number 25 Fish hit 16 aces but just could not make any impression on the Haas serve and the German held on with ease to reach his first final of the year.

Haas, who has won his past five finals, a run stretching back to 2002, said he would have his hands full in tomorrow's clash.

''I've played Andy quite a few times now,'' he said.

''Usually it depends on how Andy serves against me and that plays a big role. He is as competitive as they come.'' Fish, who will move to the verge of the top 20 when the rankings are released on Monday, said he would take plenty of positives out of the week.

''I think that's one of those matches... when you just have to tip your hat,'' he said.

''I don't think I played as well as I did in a few previous matches but I have had a great start to the year. The goal is to finish top 10 by the end of the year. It's a great start for me.'' REUTERS SBA RN0450