Roddick worth backing in Brisbane
Tennis 
/ Andy Morris / 10 January 2010 / Leave a comment Bet Now View Market
Andy Roddick is hard to oppose in the men's singles final at the Brisbane International tournament, writes Andy Morris.
"It would not be a surprise to see Stepanek take a set off Roddick, and I can see the American winning 2-1."
He takes on Czech Radek Stepanek, ranked five places below him at no. 12 in the world, in what will be the seventh meeting between the two.
Roddick has only lost once to Stepanek so far, and though that was also on a hard court in San Jose last year, he does have three hard court victories over him.
Most recently he won in straight sets in the final at Memphis last year, having also denied Stepanek the title in San Jose the previous year when again he did it in the minimum number of sets.
Roddick has triple the cash
Though Stepanek tourned pro four years before Roddick, in 1996, he has only four career titles to the American's 27 and has earned just over one-third the career prize money of Roddick.
The pair have lost just about the same number of matches during their career, but compared to Stepanek's 258 victories, Roddick has almost double with 507 so far.
World no. 7 Roddick had some awkward moments before beating fourth-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych in Saturday's semi-final.
The American had had things all his own way previously in the tournament, holding his serve for 30 straight games, but was broken in his opening service game by Berdych, who won the first set 6-1.
But Roddick was able to dig deep, winning the first three games of the second set and levelling the match at one set apiece as he won the second 6-3.
Defending champion has claims
The third set went on serve until Roddick broke in the ninth game to lead 5-4, and duly rounded out the match next game.
Stepanek cannot be discounted, of course, particularly as he is the defending champion, and his semi-final victory was convincing.
He brushed aside Gael Monfils with little problem, winning 6-2 6-1, the third-seeded Frenchman appearing to be well below his best while nursing a shoulder injury.
It would not be a surprise to see Stepanek take a set off Roddick, and I can see the American winning 2-1.
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