Tennis-Gonzalez beats Roddick to reach Vienna final

VIENNA, Oct 14 (Reuters) Fernando Gonzalez claimed a 6-4 3-6 7-6 victory over third-seeded American Andy Roddick to reach the final of the Vienna Open today.

The fifth seed from Chile will face either top seed and defending champion Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia or unseeded Slovak Dominik Hrbaty in tomorrow's final.

Gonzalez last reached a final a year ago in Basel, when he defeated Marcos Baghdatis to win his seventh career title.

He had lost his previous four matches against Roddick, but played almost flawlessly for more than two hours to edge through against an opponent who, after a difficult first set, did almost nothing wrong.

Only one break decided each of the first two sets. Gonzalez came out firing, hitting three aces in his first service game and then breaking for 2-1 when Roddick put a forehand wide.

Gonzalez kept up the pressure with his lethal forehand, which can sometimes be untamed but on this occasion was working to perfection.

Roddick had to hold off four set points at 5-3 before Gonzalez served out the set to love.

However, the American gradually began to assert himself in the second set and broke for 4-2 when Gonzalez netted a fiercely-struck forehand.

That was enough to take the match to a decider in which neither player earned a break point. The inevitable tiebreak hinged on one mini-break break, secured when Gonzalez ripped a backhand pass for a 2-0 lead.

Reuters AY RS2037