Roddick, Mahut to Meet in Artois Championships Final

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Three-time winner Andy Roddick will meet Frenchman Nicolas Mahut in the final of The Artois Championships on Sunday.

Roddick, who is one win away from claiming his fourth title in five years at The Queen’s Club, defeated Russian Dmitry Tursunov 6-4, 7-5, while Mahut moved through to his first career ATP final with a 6-3, 7-6(4) victory over friend and countryman Arnaud Clement. The semifinals were delayed by just under three hours due to the rain, with the all-French encounter between Mahut and Clement being moved over to Court 1.

Roddick, who won the title here between 2003-05, said after his quarterfinal victory over Marin Cilic that he was hoping to cut down on his “sloppy errors,” knowing that against Tursunov he was going to have to pick up his game. The only two times they had previously met had both gone the distance – one a final set tie-break in Indianapolis won by Roddick, and a Davis Cup match lasting just under five hours won by Tursunov 17-15 in the final set last year.

With Roddick using his sliced backhand to good effect, the former World No. 1 broke Tursunov to love in the ninth game of the first set and took it 6-4 in just 29 minutes. The second set also went with serve until Roddick broke to lead 6-5 and, despite a number of Hawk-Eye challenges, kept his concentration to reach his second final of the year.

“It's very important [to be in a fourth final],” said Roddick. “This is kind of where I've been lucky enough to kind of salvage my season a couple times after some dodgy clay court play. It's always nice to come here. I'd love to win a fourth one.”

Roddick, who won his only previous meeting with Mahut in Lyon in 2005, added: “It's going to be tough. From what I've seen, he’s been going for broke on first and second serves, playing a little bit kamikaze. He's been coming in, any ball he gets he's been taking a swing at and charging. He's kind of playing a little bit without a conscience right now.

“He's come through a very, very tough draw. He's probably had the toughest draw in the tournament so far. He's definitely a deserving finalist.”

Mahut, who only made it directly into the main draw after eight players withdrew, defeated Ivan Ljubicic and Rafael Nadal on Friday to reach his first career semifinal. “It's a big day for me, you know,” said Mahut. “Before the tournament, I was not in the main draw. I was supposed to play qualies. Six days later, I am playing in the final against Andy.”

Mahut, who exchanged shirts at the net after defeating his friend Clement, added: “We said we had to do something special today for that match, and we did that.”

As the World No. 106, Mahut will be looking to become the first player outside the Top 100 to win the Artois Championships since Scott Draper won the title in 1998 ranked 108.

“[Andy Roddick’s] maybe the best grass player on the tour, after Roger [Federer] of course,” said Mahut. “I beat Nadal yesterday, so I think I have chances tomorrow.”