Andy Roddick looks like a genuine threat to win Wimbledon.
Roddick beat fellow American Andre Agassi 6-1, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (6) on Saturday to reach the Queen's Club grass-court final, and also equaled the record for the world's fastest serve of 239.8kph.
After four losses and no victories against his childhood hero, Roddick racked up 27 aces and caught Agassi on a slightly off day.
Roddick faces Sebastien Grosjean in Sunday's final after the Frenchman defeated hometown favorite Tim Henman in the other semifinal 6-3, 6-4.
Roddick and Grosjean are 1-1 against each other with the American winning the last time they played.
"It's always tough to return his serve. He has the hardest serve on the tour," Grosjean said.
Roddick's serve matched the benchmark set five years ago by Canadian-born Briton Greg Rusedski. Earlier in the tournament he struck one at 236.8kph.
His victory came just a day after the second-seeded Agassi took over the No. 1 ranking on the ATP Tour with Wimbledon beginning June 23.
Seedings will be announced today, and Agassi or Lleyton Hewitt is expected to be seeded first.
"He's [Agassi] my hero growing up and he's kicked my butt more than a couple times," Roddick said. "I was looking to get a win out here today, and I got a little lucky out there in the end."
Roddick hit about 75 percent of his first serves and seemed more focused under new coach Brad Gilbert.
"I tired not to let Andre dictate the play," Roddick said.
"If you get in a rally with him, he's going to school you. So when I had a good shot I tried to crack it pretty hard."
Roddick wasn't aware of matching Rusedski's serve until reporters told him about it.
"I guess Greg has some company now. It would have been nice to get that one more mile an hour, but I didn't even notice it so it's a pleasant surprise."
Agassi said he was lucky to be in the match, but said the perparation at Queen's was perfect for Wimbledon.
"To be honest, I was pretty fortunate today to even have a chance of winning," Agassi said. "Between the way he was serving and playing and the way I was striking the ball, I wasn't very convincing at all.
"I felt like I deserved to lose that match, and yet I still had some chances. So that's a positive that I could still give myself a look today."
Agassi is the best returner in tennis, but he was powerless at times against Roddick.
"When you hit the spot with that sort of pace, really there's not much you can do about it.
"You just have to hope that someone doesn't hit 140mph [239.8km] and also hit the corner on the big point."
Roddick came out quickly and took Agassi apart in just 20 minutes to win the first set 6-1. Roddick outhustled Agassi from the start and beat him from the baseline, which forced Agassi to come to the net at times -- mostly unsuccessfully.
Pumped up by the first set victory, Roddick smashed his 239.8km serve early in the second set.
In the other semifinal, seventh-seeded Henman was never in the match against No. 6 Grosjean despite having beaten him in three of their previous four matches.
Henman missed many first serves and lacked the consistency of his opponent, who served well, rallied when he needed to and came to the net with confidence.
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