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Murray dismisses Roddick to set up Tsonga final clash

Andy Murray stretches for a backhand during his convincing straights sets win over Andy Roddick.
Andy Murray stretches for a backhand during his convincing straights sets win over Andy Roddick.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Andy Murray brushes aside Andy Roddick 6-3 6-1 in Queen's Club semifinals
  • Second seed will play Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in Sunday's final
  • France's Tsonga ends the hopes of British underdog James Ward 6-3 7-6
  • Caroline Wozniacki reaches final of WTA tournament in Copenhagen

(CNN) -- Britain's Andy Murray stepped up his Wimbledon preparations with a convincing 6-3 6-1 win over Andy Roddick to reach the final at Queen's Club Saturday.

He will play France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who ended hopes of an all-British final with a 6-3 7-6 win over unseeded James Ward.

Earlier, Murray, the second seed, wasted little time in dispatching four-time champion Roddick who was broken immediately and never recovered.

Murray, who claimed the Queen's Club title in 2009 before losing in the semifinals that year at Wimbledon to Roddick, was totally secure on his own delivery and duly kept ahead to win the opening set.

Andy is one of the toughest players to break on the Tour but it was just one of those days. I hardly missed a ball
--Andy Murray
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He broke his American opponent at the start of the second and a further break for 4-1 meant there was no way back for the three-time Wimbledon runner-up.

Murray completed victory on his third match point and was delighted by his performance.

"Andy is one of the toughest players to break on the Tour but it was just one of those days. I hardly missed a ball," Murray told gathered reporters.

"Everything that touched my racquet came off. I felt great out there.

"It's nice to get off the court quickly. I'm sure if we play in a couple of weeks at Wimbledon it'll be a lot more competitive."

In Sunday's final will face another tough challenge from fifth seed Tsonga, who beat world number one Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals.

Ward had got past fourth seed Stanislas Wawrinka and defending champion Sam Querrey on the way to the last four, but a nervous opening service game cost him the first set.

Ward recovered to take advantage of a sloppy service game from the Frenchman and claim a 3-0 lead in the second set, but was broken back as Tsonga forced a tiebreak.

Both players had set point chances but Tsonga closed it out 9-7 and with it the match when Ward hit wide on a passing shot.

In other ATP action Saturday, Philipp Petzschner and Philipp Kohlschreiber set up an all-German final in the grass court tournament in Halle.

Petzschner knocked-out 2007 Halle champion Tomas Berdych 7-6 2-6 6-3 in two hours and 19 minutes.

Earlier, Kohlschreiber saw off France's Gael Monfils 6-3 6-3 in their semifinal.

Meanwhile, women's world number one Caroline Wozniacki reached the final of the WTA event in Copenhagen with a 6-1 6-2 win over Mona Barthel of Germany.

The Dane will play Lucie Safarova after the Czech fourth seed beat Petra Martic of Croatia 1-6 6-4 6-2 in the earlier semifinal.

Former top-ranked Ana Ivanovic was beaten in the semifinals of the WTA tournament in Birmingham by Slovak fourth seed Daniela Hantuchova, losing 6-7 6-3 6-2.

Hantuchova will meet Sabine Lisicki in Sunday's final after the German got the better of Peng Shuai, 6-3 6-1.