Andy Roddick to meet Roger Federer in final

Defending champion Andy Roddick set up aa final against top-ranked Roger Federer at the Kooyong Classic exhibition tournament with a 6-4, 6-4 win Friday over Scotland's Andy Murray.

Photo: Andy Roddick to meet Roger Federer in final

Andy Roddick to meet Roger Federer in final

Roddick has only one win in 13 ATP Tour matches against Federer, who is on an eight-match streak against the American.

Although the last match was close, Federer having to save three match points before winning their round-robin match at the season-ending Masters Cup in November.

There's nothing riding on the Saturday final at Kooyong, an invitation-only warmup for next week's Australian Open, but Roddick has no intention of wasting the chance.

"I'm going to go out there and try to win a tennis match," he said. "It's always nice to get a shot at Roger."

The main idea is to fine tune for the season's first major. The earliest Federer and Roddick could meet at the Australian Open is in the semifinals.

A win "would be great," Roddick said. "At the same time, I'm going to reiterate the fact that we're here for preparation and we're here to kind of get a feel and play some good tennis in a nice environment before the Aussie Open, the AP reports.

"I mean, let's say I do come out here and beat Roger tomorrow, I wouldn't come in here acting like a world beater — I'd probably have to do it on a bigger stage before you read too much into it."

Federer, bidding for a 10th Grand Slam title at the Australian Open, skipped his regular season-opener at Doha this year and came straight to Melbourne.

He had a patchy start, coming within two points of a loss before beating Radek Stepanek on Wednesday, but had an easier time in a straight sets win over 2005 Australian Open champion Marat Safin in his second match to qualify for the final.

In matches in the relegation bracket, Radek Stepanek beat Ivan Ljubicic 6-2, 6-2 and Fernando Gonzalez continued Tommy Haas' winless run with a 6-4, 7-6 (8) defeat.

Source: AP