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.
Not sure a couple of clay court matches from ’10, ’11 are of much relevance to Stakhovsky v Simon on an indoor hard court in 2015! Stakhovsky can hurt him if he plays his best tennis from the past week or so. Three sets is my guess, maybe even Stakho nicking it.
Rafa had all he could handle last night vs Cuevas…and they didn’t even walk on the court until 1:00 am, Rio time.
Thanks to Fognini
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Sara Errani has just taken the 1st set against Johanna Larsson, so it will be at least another 30 mins to an hour before Ferrer’s match.
Thanks @nadline10. I was wondering why they were not showing the 1st semi. The scheduling at this tourney has been a joke, so Rafa will again have an early morning match…….
Time for a siesta
Another late night for me watching Rafa waltz his way to another final.
Vamos!
I hope they suspend time violation for this match as the players have had very little rest.
Lots of empty seats.
#FansArentEverywhere
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Seat Police
Guga in the house.
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Final in less than 24 hours.
Another netgate, this time it’s Fognini.
wow…the second set slipping away…
and there was some anger shown by rafa after that time violation at deuce..his next service was clocked at 210 kmh up the line (though it missed) and the shots hit during the rally were rash too. And now rafa is arguing with the umpire.
Rafa simply dissapeared from the court..this is shoking..
Rafa is tired, he is wilting now. To give him a warning when he didn’t go to bed till 5 am is dreadful.
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that was poor from rafa but the Fog was on fire! he played one heck of a set after getting broken at 1-1. He broke rafa’s serve 4 times!
Come on rafa, focus! rafa was really pissed off by the end of the set. Did not even serve properly at 0-40 2-5 and then did not bother chasing the return by Fognini
The ATP does not act in the interest of the players at all.