Blake to meet Stepanek in LA final

LOS ANGELES, July 22 (Reuters) Second-seeded James Blake, hunting his first ATP title in six months, booked his place in the Los Angeles Classic final with a 6-3 4-6 6-3 victory over South Korea's Lee Hyung-taik.

Blake, who fired down 10 aces in searing heat, will meet Czech Radek Stepanek in today's final after German wildcard Nicolas Kiefer withdrew before their evening semi-final because of a knee injury.

The shaven-headed Blake, competing in his fourth semi-final of the year, survived an erratic spell during the second set before sealing the win in one hour 48 minutes yesterday.

''It's a great feeling and hopefully the start of good things this summer,'' Blake told reporters after reaching his third final of the year.

''Last year I made finals early on in the season but didn't have such a good summer up until the US Open when I was playing a little better.'' The 27-year-old New Yorker, who piled up five ATP titles last year, said fitness had been no problem for him in hot conditions this week, despite being taken to three sets in two of his last three matches.

Although the American was broken in the fourth game of the opening set, he immediately hit back by breaking Lee in the fifth after the Korean made an unforced error on game point.

That sparked a run of five successive games won by the American whose forehand was in blistering form as he also broke Lee in the seventh and ninth games to clinch the set.

The Asian number one, hitting his groundstrokes crisply and with precision, broke Blake at the start of the second set and both players comfortably held serve until the sixth game when Lee came back from 0-40 down to stretch his lead to 4-2.

HOUDINI-LIKE ESCAPE Blake produced a Houdini-like escape of his own in the ninth, twice going advantage down to the Korean before ending a marathon rally and an 18-point game with a brilliant backhand pass.

But Lee, playing in his first ATP semi-final of the year, then held serve to level the match at one set all.

In the final set, Lee was broken after netting a backhand volley while advancing toward the net. Blake, 5-3 ahead, served out for victory after Lee hit a backhand into the net after saving one match point.

Kiefer was due to play in his first ATP semi-final since last year's Australian Open after being sidelined for more than a year with a wrist problem but injury worries came back to haunt him as he was pulled out with a left knee inflammation.

''This morning, I woke up with a pain in my knee,'' Kiefer told the crowd packed around the stadium court. ''I'm very sorry. I was on a good run.'' Kiefer, a finalist here in 2004, later told reporters the knee had been troubling him since his quarter-final win over fellow German Michael Berrer on Friday.

''I'm happy that I'm smart enough to make the decision not to play,'' said Kiefer. ''I think it's the right decision.'' Stepanek, out of action for six months last year because of a neck injury, looked forward to the final of a tournament in which he is yet to lose a set.

''At the end of the day, I saved a lot of energy,'' said the former world number eight.

''I feel that I'm playing every match better and better. My game is improving and I'm looking forward to tomorrow.'' REUTERS TB VV1132