Roddick was pushed hard by unseeded Bjorn Phau of Germany before winning 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-1 and Sela overpowered No. 7 Rainer Schuettler of Germany 6-3, 6-3 in the other semifinal.
On the women’s side, Jankovic fought off No. 5 Vera Zvonareva of Russia 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 in their semifinal, while Kuznetsova disappointed a noisy home crowd, beating China’s Zheng Jie 7-6 (3), 7-5.
The second-seeded Roddick is favored in the final against Sela, who will be aiming for his third upset of the tournament in Sunday’s matchup. The 92nd-ranked Israeli has already ousted top-seeded David Ferrer and Tommy Robredo.
“For the final I have nothing to lose,” said Sela, who can become the first Israeli to take an ATP singles title since Amos Mansdorf in 1993. Harel Levy was the last Israeli to reach a singles final, in 2000 at Toronto.
Roddick overcame Phau in the third set, waiting patiently for his chance.
“For a while there he was just playing extremely high-risk tennis, and you figure if someone plays that way long enough they’re going to start missing a little bit,” Roddick said.
Roddick plans to rely on his powerful serve against Sela.
“The one advantage I do have over those guys is serving, so I’m going to have to take care of that and try to take my chances on his serve,” Roddick said. “There’s no doubt he’s playing extremely confident.”
If Jankovic wins the tournament, she will pull within 21 points of No. 1 Serena Williams in the WTA rankings. That would set up a showdown next week in Stuttgart, where Williams, No. 2 Jankovic and six other top-10 players are entered.
Jankovic has had problems with Kuznetsova. The Russian beat her last week in Tokyo and holds a 4-2 career edge.
“Of course, I would like to regain that No. 1 position,” Jankovic said. “For me the goal is to end the year as the No. 1 player in the world. I’m really working hard, really trying to win as many matches as possible, win titles.”
Roddick has been a crowd favorite in Beijing. His support might grow even stronger when word gets out that he’s donating $25,000 to victims of the May 12 earthquake in the Sichuan province. He said the gift was largely spontaneous after talking to people in China.
“We get paid a lot to go to a lot of different places, and I just feel like it’s something we should do,” Roddick said. “I plan on doing the same for the people who have been hit by the hurricane back home in Texas. It’s two similar things.”
Sela started his run with two weeks of practice before last weekend’s Davis Cup victory over Peru. He won both of his matches and then headed to China.
“This match today was on TV in Israel,” Sela said. “I’m getting a lot of phone calls, all the newspapers, TV.”
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