But it was Stepanek of the Czech Republic who played the best tennis of the day, upsetting top- seed Andy Roddick 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 and earning a spot in today's final against Fish.

Stepanek is a showman who works the crowd with quirky mannerisms and a victory dance he calls The Worm, flopping to the ground and gyrating on his belly. "Disgusting" is what Roddick has called it. For Stepanek, it was an emotional release after losing four straight matches to Roddick, including the finals of the 2008 SAP Open.

"I have a little revenge from last year," Stepanek said.

Now it's a ... Fish-Worm final, and Stepanek has won their two other matches. He's 21st in the world (Fish is 24th) and handled a frustrated Roddick (sixth), who threw his racket three times, repeatedly yelled at himself and blew 40-15 leads in successive games in the third set.

"That's not executing, man," Roddick said to himself, loud enough for much of HP Pavilion to hear. "The shot is there every time. That's not executing."

Roddick, Blake and Fish are good buddies. Roddick and Blake rallied for each other when guiding the U.S. to the Davis Cup title in December. Fish grew up with Roddick in Florida and once lived in Roddick's family's home. Blake was in Fish's wedding, and they're doubles partners.

In fact, the Blake-Fish team had advanced to Saturday night's doubles semis but was a no-show because an ankle sprain Blake sustained in Friday's quarterfinal win over Sam Querrey prompted him to withdraw.

After Blake fell to Fish 6-3, 6-2, he said he wouldn't have been competitive for today's singles finals because he still was hurting from the sprain. Saturday, he favored the ankle so much that it wouldn't have been surprising if he defaulted. Rallies were quick, and Blake often froze on Fish's serves and smashes.

"I wasn't going to get into long rallies and be able to move side to side and be effective that way," Blake said. "The right person won today. I'm happy for him."

But Fish said, "You don't want to win like that, and you don't want to see him hurt."

Nevertheless, Fish is in his first San Jose final since 2004 (a loss to Roddick) after beating Lleyton Hewitt, John Isner, No. 2 seed Juan Martin del Potro and No. 3 seed Blake. Stepanek, who's also in today's doubles finals, teaming with Tommy Haas, will try to become the first player since John McEnroe in 1986 to win both singles and doubles at the tourney.

"I'll be trying to pull them both out," Stepanek said.

Roddick was denied a chance to win a fourth SAP title in six years. His three-year contract with the tournament is expiring, and when asked if he expects to return in 2010, he said, "I hope so. I have to take everything into consideration, but I enjoy playing here."

E-mail John Shea at jshea@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page C - 7 of the San Francisco Chronicle