INDIANAPOLIS (TICKER) -- Canada is not known for its tennis players, but Frank Dancevic took a step toward changing that Saturday.
Ranked 109th in the world, the unseeded Dancevic upset top-seeded Andy Roddick, 6-4, 7-6 (7-1), in the semifinals of the $525,000 Indianapolis Tennis Championships to become the first Canadian to reach an ATP final since Greg Rusedski in 1995.
Seeking his first career singles title, Dancevic held his own on the hardcourt against the world No. 5, who has 22 titles to his credit, including two at this event.
"Playing against a guy like Andy, you have to keep your level up the whole match," said Dancevic, who had 15 aces in the win. "I was focusing on myself and playing point by point. I was pretty mentally sharp today."
The 22-year-old Dancevic broke Roddick once in the opening set while saving all four of the break points he faced. In the second set, the players traded breaks before going to the tiebreaker, where Dancevic rattled off six unanswered points to close the match.
A finalist here a year ago, Roddick has just one singles title this year.
Dancevic's finals opponent will be No. 3 Dmitry Tursunov of Russia, a 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 winner against unseeded Sam Querrey on Saturday.
Querrey upset second seed and defending champion James Blake in the quarterfinals earlier Saturday, but the 19-year-old American could not solve Tursunov, who advanced to his first final of the year.
Tursunov, 24, won the only singles title of his career last year in Mumbai, India.
Ranked 27th in the world, Tursunov has played Dancevic only one other time, winning in straight sets on grass earlier this year at the The Artois Championships in London.
With a win in the finals, Dancevic will be the first Canadian since Rusedski, who won in Seoul on April 30, 1995, to capture a singles title.
"I'm happy to be in the final. I'm going to go out there, hopefully serve like I have all week, and hopefully things will go my way," Dancevic said.
First prize is $73,000.