Roddick to face Murray in San Jose semi-finals

SAN JOSE, Feb 17 (Reuters) Top seed Andy Roddick will meet defending champion Andy Murray in the semi-finals of the San Jose Open for the second successive year after both came through tough three-set battles.

Roddick, the winner in 2004 and 2005, battled past fellow American Vince Spadea 6-3 6-7 6-1, while third seed Murray edged out South Korea's Lee Hyung-taik 4-6 6-3 7-6.

German sixth seed Benjamin Becker, who upset Marat Safin 6-4 6-3, will take on Ivo Karlovic in the other semi-final after the unseeded Croat overpowered American Mardy Fish 7-6 6-4.

Roddick, who hit 19 aces, needed exactly two hours to get past eighth seed Spadea and reach the last four for the fifth time in six years.

The 32-year-old Spadea, the oldest player in the draw, hit back from a set and a break down to win the tiebreak and force a decider.

But a loss of concentration at the start of the set allowed Roddick to regain the upper hand and as Spadea tired, the top seed eased to victory.

''My focus was all over the place in the first two sets,'' Roddick said.

''I don't know why, but then the third set was probably the best set I have played all week.'' The American was beaten in straight sets by Murray last year and also lost to him at Wimbledon, though he did gain some revenge by beating the Scot in Cincinnati in August.

''Andy makes you beat him,'' Roddick said. ''He can go for the ball big and he plays great defence. He is a very, very good player.'' LISTLESS Murray looked in trouble when he dropped the first set to world number 54 Lee but upped his game to win the second set thanks to an early break.

The Scot served for the match at 6-5 in the decider but squandered a match point as he was broken, before bouncing back to win it 7-4 and claim his place in the semi-finals.

''I thought I did well to get through,'' Murray said. ''It's great for my game to be playing these kind of players (like Roddick).

''The most important thing tomorrow is to return well and to try to take care of my serve.'' Sixth seed Becker took advantage of a listless performance from Russian former world number one Safin, breaking once in each set to reach his third career ATP Tour semi-final.

Safin, the world number 24, won a five-set battle with Becker at the Australian Open last month, but made a stack of unforced errors in their latest meeting and could not even force a break point.

''I think I played pretty well and I think he made a few more mistakes than he usually does,'' Becker said.

''I just tried to him play a lot, not going for too much, especially on his serve and it worked out.'' Karlovic followed up his victory over American second seed James Blake with a stunning exhibition of serving against Fish, the world number 25.

The Croat blasted 17 aces and dropped only 10 points on serve to leave Fish, a quarter-finalist at the Australian Open last month, chasing shadows.

Karlovic, who stands six feet 10 inches, won the first-set tiebreak 7-2 and broke Fish in the third game of the second set before going on to reach his third ATP Tour semi-final.

REUTERS sam rk1425