Agencies

San Jose, February 14:

Andy Roddick could think of only one thing wrong with his day. ``I wasn’t getting cell phone service inside the stadium this morning,’’ he said.

The top-seeded Roddick played a near-flawless first set and breezed to a 6-0, 6-4 victory over unseeded Cyril Saulnier to win the SAP Open in the fastest final on the ATP circuit this season.

The American star is the first to record a shutout set in the championship of this event since Arthur Ashe beat Guillermo Vilas in 1975.

Roddick, who had just nine aces, won his 16th career title less than 20 hours after a thrilling 7-6, 6-3 semi-final win on Saturday over third-seeded Tommy Haas that featured the best rallies of the tournament.

Ranked third in the world, Roddick becomes the first player to win the event in consecutive years since Mark Philippoussis in 1999 and 2000. Roddick has beaten Saulnier in all three of their meetings, but the first two went three sets — with four of their six sets decided in tiebreakers.

Saulnier entered the final with the highest return percentage in the tournament against the event’s most talented server. He advanced to the title match with a 6-7, 6-3, 6-3 win over Austrian Jurgen Melzer.

ATP Buenos Aires

BUENOS AIRES: Second-seeded Gaston Gaudio beat wild card Mariano Puerta 6-4, 6-4 in an all-Argentine final at the ATP Buenos Aires on Sunday.

Gaudio, the 2004 French Open winner, waited for his chances and got the only service break of the first set in the fifth game to take a 3-2 lead. He kept that lead to take the first set.

The second set featured long, blistering rallies and evenly matched play. Though a tiring Gaudio made more mistakes, his well-placed forehand shots and serve made the difference.

Gaudio finished the match stretched out on the red clay, beaming as the crowd cheered his win at the only major ATP circuit stop in Argentina. It was his second title in a row after winning last week in Chile. — AP