By Adrianna Outlaw

(January 8, 2011) The Brisbane court is blue and the yellow balls may be battered black and blue when Andy Roddick meets Robin Soderling in what should be a bruising Brisbane final on Sunday. Defending champion Roddick ripped 15 aces to stop South African Kevin Anderson 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 in today's semifinals.

The fifth-ranked Soderling short-circuited Radek Stepanek's bid for a third straight Brisbane final appearance with a 6-3, 7-5 conquest in today's first semifinal. The two-time French Open finalist held match point at 5-4 in the second set, but faltered as Stepanek scored his only break for 5-all. Soderling immediately broke back then served out the 82-minute match. Soderling has surrendered serve just once this week.

"I’ve served well and played well the whole week. Today was my best match and I’m really glad that I’m improving for every match," Soderling said. “At 5-5 [in the second set] he was back in the match again, but I managed to play a really good return game to break him again. So far I feel good. I’ve had four really good matches, but the final is the one you want to win."

The final features two of tennis' biggest servers. Soderling has won three of five meetings with Roddick, including a quarterfinal sweep at the BNP Paribas Masters last November. Roddick beat Soderling at Indian Wells and Cincinnati last year and expects another slugfest on Sunday.

"We’re going to see the best of what we’ve seen this week against each other tomorrow," said Roddick after wrapping up a one hour, 53-minute win. "He’s playing great. He served really well today and was in control of his match. He hits the ball so big that a lot of times you’re at his mercy. He’s certainly improved a lot in the past two years. We’ve always had tight matches, so I don’t see why tomorrow will be different."

Roddick looks ripped after a rigorous off-season workout regimen and has fired 42 aces en route to the final.

“Harder, easier, as long as you get to play again it’s fine,” said Roddick. “I felt like I was in control pretty much the whole match, even in the second set when I had one bad game. I felt like I had more looks at his serve than he had at mine. I actually broke more than I thought I might against his serve.”