Semifinal match picks, including Nadal vs. Fognini and Tomic vs. Young

Rio de Janeiro

(1) Rafael Nadal vs. (4) Fabio Fognini: Fognini is 0-4 lifetime against Nadal and 1-9 in total sets. The Italian simply has no belief versus the top players; he is 0-14 combined at the hands of Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Roger Federer, and 3-32 in total sets. Nadal in 2.

Andreas Haider-Maurer vs. (2) David Ferrer: Haider-Maurer has benefited from a favorable draw and an out-of-sorts Tommy Robredo. The luck ends vs. Ferrer, who completely destroyed the Austrian in two previous meetings. Ferrer in 2.

Delray Beach

Donald Young vs. Bernard Tomic: Young and Tomic just faced each other for the first time last week in Memphis, where Young won a quarterfinal match 7-6(8), 4-6, 7-5. Tomic’s quirky shots will be slightly more difficult to deal with outdoors in windy conditions, plus the Aussie is coming off an easy victory whereas Young had a three-set battle with Alexandr Dolgopolov. Tomic in 3.

(5) Adrian Mannarino vs. (4) Ivo Karlovic: Mannarino has fared relatively well against the big man’s serve in the past, but Karlovic has a history of success in Delray Beach and he has been absolutely outstanding this week. Karlovic in 3.

Marseille

(7) Gael Monfils vs. (4) Roberto Bautista Agut: Like Young and Tomic, these two also squared off last week. Monfils won 7-5, 7-6(5) to improve to 2-0 versus Bautista Agut, including 4-0 in total sets. Three of those sets, though, were competitive. Monfils in 3.

(5) Gilles Simon vs. Sergiy Stakhovsky: Stakhovsky, who upset Stan Wawrinka on Friday, is a force indoors. But Simon, who has a stellar return and loves using opponents’ pace, is a bad matchup for the Ukrainian anywhere. The Frenchman is 2-0 in the ATP-level H2H, 4-0 in sets, and 24-9 in games. Simon in 2.