Swiss stars Stanislas Wawrinka and Roger Federer will contest their respective semifinal matches on Saturday. Wawrinka is going up against Grigor Dimitrov at Queen’s Club and Federer is facing Kei Nishikori in Halle.
Queen’s Club: (1) Stanislas Wawrinka vs. (4) Grigor Dimitrov
Wawrinka will be looking to extend his perfect head-to-head record against Dimitrov when the top-seeded Swiss takes the court at the Aegon Championships on Saturday. A 2011 Australian Open encounter went Wawrinka’s way 7-5, 6-3, 6-3 and he also prevailed 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 last year on the clay courts of Madrid.
Both men have enjoyed remarkably routine paths to the Queen’s Club semifinals. After receiving first-round byes, Wawrinka got a first-set retirement from Marcos Baghdatis in the last 32 and Dimitrov got a walkover from Alexandr Dolgopolov in the quarterfinals. Wawrinka’s wins came via straight sets against Sam Querrey and Marinko Matosevic, while Dimitrov got past James Ward and Edouard Roger-Vasselin without dropping a set. The world No. 3 would likely have an edge in a slam over five sets, but Dimitrov has been thriving at smaller events and Wawrinka has never been a particularly daunting grass-court opponent.
Pick: Dimitrov in 3
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Halle: (4) Kei Nishikori vs. (2) Roger Federer
Federer will be looking to erase a rare head-to-head deficit when the second-seeded Swiss battles Nishikori in the semifinals of the Gerry Weber Open on Saturday. Nishikori owns a 2-1 edge over Federer, having won twice in a row–6-4, 1-6, 6-2 last year in Madrid and 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 earlier this season on the hard courts of Miami.
Favorites have been falling early and often at each event this week, and Federer had a scare of his own in his opener against Joao Sousa. Still, the 17-time Grand Slam champion improved to 44-5 lifetime in Halle with a three-set victory and he promptly got a walkover from Yen-Hsun Lu on Friday. At one of his best tournaments and on a surface that definitely favors him over Nishikori, Federer should be able to take care of business.
Pick: Federer in 2 losing 5-7 games
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Hope Ricky is wrong. The Coleslaw against Federer for the final would be something to look forward to 🙂
ed251137 (at 12:16 pm) ,
Which final?
^^^^An Ed bloomer!!
#LostThePlot.
250 GOAT.
Dont be mean: he needs those points 😛
ed251137 (at 2:13 pm),
What for?
Really surprised Falla battled his way past Kohlbi however. Would not have backed him earlier this week to make it to the final.
Gussie@2:20pm
To relegate The Pretender to his rightful ranking of course.
Falla on faya! Beats Kohls to go into the Halle finals. Falla almost beat Fed at Wimby at one time. Glad he beat Kohls. Not that I do not like Kohls, more like respect his game. Going into the finals would have given him too much confidence going into Wimby. Who knows, he may be in Rafa’s half………….
“Falla on faya” ha. Good one. I’m still going with early tournament pick of Kei.
C’mon Dimi! Show the journeyman 1- Slam wonder the door!
Well done Dimi! Beats the pretender in straights……
The player formerly known as Stanislas continues his slide into anonymity…………where he belongs.
Now c’mon Kei! Show the GOAT who’s boss…………..
This is what Stan had to do for some attention:
https://twitter.com/BBCSport/status/477809535584075776/photo/1
RT @SI_BTBaseline: “A win by Dimitrov tomorrow would give him a title on all three surfaces this season. Has won his last three finals. #atp”
Kei leads Fed 2-1 in H2H.
Gotta say, Fed’s game was made for grass…….
“Grass is for the cows,” said Ivan Lendl, while deciding to give the Wimbledon a miss in 1982 and go holidaying instead.
He would say that, wouldn’t he? He was like a cow on ice…ehm, grass there!
rafaisthebest ( at 2:25 pm),
Grass is for the goats too!
It’s a pity that S. Stakhovsky wasn’t in Halle!
What’s going to happen if the great Rafael Nadal meets Lukas Rosol or Dustin Brown in the first round in Wimbledon? I would have brought up Steve Darcis but I think he won’t be there. Wouldn’t it be strange if the 2 plastic robotic media darling primma donna goats went out in the first round? Then maybe tennis would be saved,no?
filter (at 6:04 pm),
—Then maybe tennis would be saved,no?—
Saving tennis last year, no?
https://twitter.com/augustazeight/status/423070281091932160/photo/1
Agreed Federer is a cry baby and a fake. Now do you also have pictures of the one dimensional dirtballer faker Nadal going out to Darcis? Nadal and Federer are the two fakest tennis players ever. Pantsies of the ATP. Yes men all the way. The sooner both are off the tour the better.
Kei is being schooled out there!
Kei schooled his opponent in the second set.
Actually, I didn’t watch the match and I have no idea how they played.
Fed is soooo boring that I can’t bear to watch his matches.
I was watching the scoreboard.
You mean you don’t appreciate the poetry in motion and ballet like movement…….. Shame on you 😉
I for one will skip the Halle final and feast my eyes on the gorgeous Feli 😀
ed251137 (at 4:14 pm),
I have never been fond of the male ballet dancers, they are unmanly.
Ok, that’s too much information right there @augusta08………….
So hoping Delicious makes it past Satchel Lips even if Dimitrov will probably take the title.
On grass, so wishing Rafa had Fed’s serve……..
What. A boring serve like that?
#Rhetorical
Can’t understand why my posts are under moderation again.
What you can’t understand why a 74 yo woman, who calls herself ed, calling a player the same childish names a spoiled 6 yo would gets moderated? Shocker.
nobody is being moderated
Math is not a real strength for snowdevil. Best stick to trolling then?
Hilarious!
The 250 GOAT is through to another Halle Final.
Fascinating battle going on between Delicious and Satchel Lips. Got to hand it to Steps. 35 years old and still motoring.
^^^Just discovered Lopez is only three years younger than Steps. I thought he was much younger.
I like Stan at Queens Club, and in straight….and I think that Fed wins a close at halle.
^^^
For those visiting us here on Planet Earth:
RT @SI_BTBaseline: “Roger Federer into the Halle final with a 63 76 win over Kei Nishikori. Will play Alejandro Falla. Perfect warm-up for Wimbledon. #atp”
RT @ESPNTennis: “Dimitrov downs Wawrinka 62 64. In Sunday’s final, he’ll face Lopez or Stepanek.”
Streak Alert!
I’m sure Fed’s thinking, “If Rafa can have 9 RGs, I can have 9 Halles too!” Look to him to win tomorrow to keep his dream alive…………
Yes one man winning the same tournament shows a lack of variety. Nine of Nadal’s 14 are on clay despite the fact that there is only 1 clay grand slam per year. 64% clay sounds pretty much a clay specialist. Seven of Federer’s 17 are on grass despite only 1 grass grand slam per year. If there were a greatest of all time or the best ever they would have a roughly equal amount of each grand slam. 5 aussies, 5 garros, 5 wimbles, 5 opens that would be a GOAT. Not these 2 primma donnas.
^^
Yes one man winning the same tournament shows a lack of variety. Four of Djokovic’s 6 Slams are on plexicushion despite the fact that there is only 1 plexicushion grand slam per year. 67% plexicushion sounds pretty much a plexicushion specialist.
@filter, I helpfully trotted out the above paragraph which you inadvertently left out in your post of 9:20 pm.
De rien, mon ami…………. 😉
……………..I don’t know whether this makes Djokovic a prima donna, I have no experience with such.
@ Filter, Given your name, I’m surprised at the amount of filth that you come up with!!
I had to go out today so couldn’t watch any of the matches. Delighted that the great Stan got his cards.
Troll alert. A well known mischief maker has infiltrated this blog.
@ed 2:30am, Is this site only for nadal fans and all non-nadal comments are from trolls?
Of course not. I was referring to the ugliness of some comments that have started appearing that go beyond a difference of opinion and have a familiar ring to them.
Right said Ed. Trolls think insulting other posters are good debate in lieu of facts.
Sadfans.
Funny how, in their rush to insult other players, they forget that the same argument can be applied to their favourite!
Hawkeye. Why has your avatar disappeared?
Yes RITB the double standards and selective facts are the primary tools of the federazzi and their troll minions.
By George, it is a Glorious time to be a Rafan.
Ed, when I post from my mobile device, my avatar doesn’t appear. Can’t seem to rectify this and have given up.
I hate the RG crowd but I love the French football team, especially their cool button up jerseys………Très chic, très hip, très sexy!
Allez les Bleus!!!
I despise them to. We have a bigger club.