LOS ANGELES -- Defending champion Andre Agassi lost just one point on his serve in the second set and beat No. 8 Max Mirnyi 6-4, 6-2 in the Mercedes-Benz Cup semifinals Saturday night.

Agassi, the No. 2 seed, will try for his third career title in Los Angeles when he plays countryman Jan-Michael Gambill in Sunday's final.

Agassi beat Pete Sampras last year and Tim Henman in 1998.

He broke Mirnyi once in the first set to go up 5-4, then served out the set at love.

"Against a guy like Max, you've got to get off to a lead,'' Agassi said. "Once I got the break, it allowed me to free up a lot of my shots. I felt really good.''

Agassi twice broke Mirnyi at love in the second set, when Mirnyi won just one point off Agassi's serve in four games.

"I was playing some great tennis, certainly some of my best,'' said Agassi, who was watched by his wife, Steffi Graf. "I really like the way my game has felt in every situation.''

A funny thing happened when Jan-Michael Gambill backed up 10 feet behind the baseline to receive Andy Roddick's powerful serves.

He won.

Gambill defeated his good friend Roddick 7-5, 6-3 in Saturday's All-American semifinal. He advanced to the final for the second time in two years, having lost to Michael Chang in 2000.

Gambill rallied from a 5-3 deficit, with service breaks in the 10th and 12th games, to win the first set. He credited the change in momentum to a change in tactics.

"Sometimes I get a little bit bullheaded, and I just stand on the baseline and try to duke it out. Against Andy Roddick, you just can't do it, he's too good,'' Gambill said. "I backed up and tried to give it my all. I came up with some real good returns. I was able to hit some balls deep on him.''

Roddick's frustration peaked near the end of the first set, when he was broken for the second time. He questioned an overrule on his first serve by the chair umpire, then hit a forehand wide and watched his second serve carom off his racket frame to lose the set.

While Gambill headed to his seat on the changeover, Roddick stayed on court, gesturing and complaining, before he walked to his chair and jawed at the umpire.

"Just a disagreement,'' he said. "He thinks he can see a 130-mph serve 100 percent and no doubt in his mind he can overrule. I missed two forehands by a couple of inches.''

Roddick came out on the losing end of several close calls while continuing to go for big shots with his powerful forehand.

He later defended his strategy.

"I've been hitting forehand winners for the past four days and everybody's talking about, `Oh wow, it's the greatest forehand in the world.' And I miss a couple today, and it's all of a sudden, `Do you think you should not pull the trigger?''' he said.

"No, I'm going to pull the trigger. That's what my game is built around, my serve and my forehand. If I pull back, that's not going to win tournaments.''

Gambill broke Roddick at love for the only break of the second set.

"I wanted to run down as many balls as I could, make him hit one more shot,'' Gambill said.

Roddick, 19, is 14-5 in his career against his fellow Americans, and 8-2 this year. He's lost both his career meetings with Gambill.