Out of the 128 competitors, we're now down to four for the semifinals at the French Open in Paris. Although the women's side has produced one upset after the other, the men's side has been consistent thus far and produced expected semifinal matches.
Here are my previews and predictions for the Men's Singles semifinals at the 2012 Roland Garros.
Rafael Nadal (2) versus David Ferrer (6)
Rafael Nadal is out for his 7th Roland Garros title and has showed absolutely no mercy along the way. The King of Clay has yet to lose a set so far in the tournament, and with the level of play and intensity he has exhibited so far, it looks likes David Ferrer is up to a Herculean task.
Rafa has cruised easily past Simone Bolelli, Denis Istomin, Eduardo Schwank, and Juan Monaco. The closest to a challenge the Spaniard has faced came via fellow countryman Nicolas Almagro in the first set during their QF match. But the clay court specialist rose to the occasion edged Almagro 7-4 to take the set. He eventually went to ruthlessly defeat Almagro 6-2, 6-3.
David Ferrer also impressively glided in the earlier rounds and was also unchallenged until the QF, where he dismissed world #4 Andy Murray in an intense, high quality hitting match. This proved that although he no longer belonged to the top 5 players in the world, he certainly belongs to the top 5 best clay court players.
The Spaniards have since met 19 times and Rafa holds a commanding 15-4 edge. On clay, Rafa leads 12-1 against Ferrer, with the latter's only win came in 2004 when Rafa was a budding tennis player. To say that Ferrer is in a major disadvantage is a major understatement. It will take Ferrer more than what he is currently doing and to dig deep if he wants to avenge his Rome Masters defeat earlier this year against Rafa.
Ferrer can possibly snatch a set from Rafa at best if he can keep up with the defending champion by hitting his corners, forcing Rafa on either side, and holding on his serve long enough to bring out frustration in Nadal. Otherwise, I cannot see anything stopping Rafa in reaching the Finals again. PREDICTION: Rafael Nadal in 4.
Roger Federer (3) versus Novak Djokovic (1)
The theme of this match is REVENGE. Novak Djokovic is out for revenge against Roger Federer for snapping his incredible 42-match winning streak last year at the same stage of the same tournament. Roger Federer is out for revenge against Novak Djokovic for defeating him five times in their last 6 matches, being the Rome Masters as the latest.
This match is tougher to call since both men have suffered greatly coming from their QF matches. The Serb was strongly contested by home-crowd favorite Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. He seemed to have lost focus and was out on many occasions in their QF match, but the world #1 has pulled through in the final set. He was also challenged hard in the earlier rounds (c/o Andres Seppi), but one thing that Novak should be happy for is that despite playing (cosiderably) bad tennis, he has survived to face Roger in the semis.
The Swiss Maestro also had his share of scare in the road to semifinals, notably against Juan Martin del Potro in the QF. Roger was down 2 sets to love before his epic comeback, winning in three straight sets in true Fed-Ex fashion, reminiscent of his slightly younger self. In the earlier rounds, Roger only won once in straight sets (first round) and the world saw how he has dropped one set in the subsequent rounds until dropping two against del Potro.
Both has struggled so far in the tournament, but Roger leads their all-time career head-to-head matches 14-11, including a 3-2 clay court advantage. However, Djokovic is a very different player now, a deserved World #1 and has won 26 Grand Slam matches in a row, and is a mere two matches from achieving something that Federer has never been able to do, win 4 major titles in a row (28 consecutive Grand Slam matches).
This match is going to the wire and I had a pretty difficult time predicting who will win it. Although it pains me to say, Roger is not playing as well this year as he played last year, but with his talent you never know when he can raise his game and take out anyone, anytime. One major key in a Federer win is for him to serve at about 60%. If not, he will have a major problem with one of the best returners in the game. When Federer plays the top guys, serving well is a must as he needs to be on the front foot in the rallies as soon as he possibly can - the longer the rally continues, the less likely he is to win it - and the serve is his best attribute to do this.
Another major point for Roger is his drop-shot technique. Djokovic must anticipate this technique, which Roger loves doing, two backhands away. Backhand rallies generally favor Djokovic but then again the aforementioned technique will bring the stop for him.
Winning the first set is very crucial to Roger, since the trend points to Djokovic blowing out his second sets in previous matches. If and when this happens, Roger will be quick to take advantage.
Depth is something Federer will have to improve in this matchup, otherwise he'll find himself on the back foot a lot of the time. He should also try to impose himself when returning Djokovic's second serve. Although there is more to ask of Federer to beat Djokovic, than there is for Djokovic to beat Federer, Roger is a big-stage player who plays well under pressure and gets deadlier as tension rises. This special quality will propel him to another Finals appearance at Roland Garros. PREDICTION: Roger Federer in 5.
UPDATE:
Rafael Nadal def. David Ferrer (6-2, 6-2, 6-1)
Novak Djokovic def. Roger Federer (6-4, 7-5, 6-3)
