Briefly

Roddick advances to Lyon Grand Prix title match with victory over Santoro

Top-seeded Andy Roddick beat Fabrice Santoro 6-4, 7-6 (5) Saturday and will meet French teenager Gael Monfils in the final of the Lyon (France) Grand Prix.

Monfils beat countryman Sebastien Grosjean 6-4, 7-5 in the other semifinal. Roddick will aim for his 20th career ATP title today. The former U.S. Open champion and two-time Wimbledon finalist is 55-13 this season.

“I hadn’t won a lot of matches in the last two months or so, and I was looking to get some confidence here,” Roddick said. “So I’m happy to get in the final.”

Roddick, a winner of four titles this season, is looking forward to playing Monfils, 19, for the first time.

“It will be tough. Monfils plays just like me,” Roddick said. “The first time I saw his serve, I thought I was looking in the mirror with the motion he has.”

•Second-seeded Thomas Johansson defeated Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to advance to the final of the St. Petersburg (Russia) Open.

The former Australian Open champion will face Nicolas Kiefer in today’s final. The fifth-seeded German ousted Robin Vik of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-4.

•Cypriot qualifier Marcos Baghdatis reached his first ATP tournament final by stunning second-seeded David Nalbandian, and will play Chilean Fernando Gonzalez for the Swiss Indoors title in Basel, Switzerland.

The 20-year-old Baghdatis beat Argentine Nalbandian 6-2, 7-6 (3). Third-seeded Gonzalez reached his fourth final of the year, taking No. 5 Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia 6-0, 6-3.

•Top-seeded Kim Clijsters overpowered No. 4 Dinara Safina to advance to the finals of the Gaz de France Stars in Hasselt, Belgium, against Francesca Schiavone.

Belgian Clijsters, the second-ranked player in the world, defeated Russian Safina 6-0, 6-1 in their semifinal match. Schiavone of Italy beat 16-year-old Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.

•Fourth-seeded Patty Schnyder secured a spot in the elite WTA Masters field with a victory that put her into the finals of the Generali Ladies in Linz, Austria, against No. 3 Nadia Petrova.

Schnyder of Switzerland ousted Ana Ivanovic of Serbia-Montenegro 7-5, 6-2. Russian Petrova defeated Czech Kveta Peschke 6-3, 6-4 in their semifinal match.

Baseball

Dodgers fire GM DePodesta

Jim Tracy, Paul Lo Duca, Shawn Green and Adrian Beltre are gone.

So is Paul DePodesta.

The Los Angeles Dodgers’ general manager was the latest out the door of Dodger Stadium, fired by owner Frank McCourt after two tumultuous years of strange trades, suspect signings – and 91 losses this season.

“Our high expectations were not met,” McCourt said at an afternoon news conference at Dodger Stadium. “I like Paul. He has many positive attributes. It was difficult, but at the end of the day, that’s my job, to make difficult decisions.”

McCourt hired DePodesta after buying the team in January 2004 from News Corp. The Dodgers won the N.L. West title in his first season, but DePodesta riled fans by trading popular catcher Lo Duca and two other players at midseason.

•The Atlanta Braves named Roger McDowell their pitching coach, replacing Leo Mazzone.

McDowell, who pitched for 12 years in the major leagues, was pitching coach of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Triple-A affiliate at Las Vegas the past two seasons.

Mazzone left the Braves after more than 15 years as pitching coach to take a lucrative, three-year deal with the Baltimore Orioles. During his tenure, Atlanta won 14 straight division titles.

Sports People

Tennessee diver earns NCAA honor

Tennessee diver Lauryn McCalley was named the 2005 NCAA Woman of the Year in Indianapolis. McCalley, a native of Moultrie, Ga., is the second Tennessee athlete and the sixth swimmer or diver to earn the honor. McCalley finished with her diving career for the Volunteers, has a 3.93 grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) while majoring in microbiology. … The Seattle SuperSonics trimmed their roster to 15 players when they waived forward Noel Felix and guard Alex Scales. Scales averaged 5.6 points in seven preseason games, while Felix averaged 2.4 points and 2.0 rebounds in five games.