Semifinal showdown sets
It’s not often that the top four seeds of a tournament all advance to the semis. It’s even more interesting when the top four seeds are the top four ranked players in the world. After Federer and Davydenko advanced earlier in the day, #2 Rafael Nadal and #3 Novak Djokovic finished off the foursome.
Nadal beat fellow Spaniard, and fifth-seeded, David Ferrer 6-1, 7-5 and will now take on Davydenko in the semis. This will be a revenge match of sorts for Nadal, after he lost to Davydenko in the finals at Miami just a couple of weeks ago. The two have met once on clay before, which was last year in Rome. Nadal won that match in three sets. This match will be a very good test for Nadal. Davydenko moves exceptionally well, and has the talent and ability to give Nadal fits. Being the three-time defending champion, Nadal is definitely the favorite but I wouldn’t be shocked if Davydenko gave him a test.
The other semifinal, which I spoke about earlier today, will pit Federer vs. Djokovic. There has been plenty made about Federer’s slump this year, but after winning last week at Estoril he looks to be on the road back. A victory here would put him in the finals for the third straight year. If Djokovic conquers Federer-mountain again, you can be sure that the critics are going to come right back out. I don’t think that is going to happen, I see Federer vs. Nadal for the third consecutive year.
Leave a Reply