A pair of marquee semifinal matchups are on Saturday’s schedule at the Shanghai Masters. Roger Federer is going up against Juan Martin Del Potro, while Rafael Nadal is facing Marin Cilic. Del Potro, however, may be dealing with another wrist injury.
(16) Juan Martin Del Potro vs. (2) Roger Federer
Federer and Del Potro will be squaring off for the 23rd time in their careers and for the third time this season when they clash in the semifinals of the Shanghai Rolex Masters on Saturday. The head-to-head series stands at 16-6 in Federer’s favor, but Del Potro recently prevailed 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(8), 6-4 in the U.S. Open quarters. Federer had previously won three in a row at the Argentine’s expense, including via a 6-3, 6-4 decision at the Miami Open this spring.
Although the 36-year-old Swiss may not be in quite the same form that carried him to the Australian Open title and back-to-back trophies in Indian Wells and Miami, he is still flying high at No. 2 in the world and in distant contention for the year-end top ranking. Federer has advanced this week with straight-set defeats of Diego Schwartzman, Alexandr Dolgopolov, and Richard Gasquet. The script seems to be flipped from when these two competitors collided a couple of months ago in New York, where Federer was dealing with a back injury. Now it is Del Potro who is a question mark, as he suffered a fall against Viktor Troicki on Friday and may have re-injured his left wrist. The 16th seed could be running on fumes, anyway, because he required three tough sets to get past both Troicki and Alexander Zverev. All signs point to Federer avenging his U.S. Open loss to Del Potro.
Pick: Federer in 2
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(1) Rafael Nadal vs. (4) Marin Cilic
Are we in line for a Nadal vs. Federer showdown, after it was derailed by Del Potro at Flushing Meadows? It’s possible, but Nadal may have an especially tough one on his hands against Cilic. The fifth-ranked Croat, who will climb to a new career-high mark of No. 4 next week, is 39-16 this season with a runner-up performance at Wimbledon. He is 8-1 since the U.S. Open, highlighted by a semifinal showing last week in Tokyo preceding straight-set wins in Shanghai over Kyle Edmund, Steve Johnson, and Albert Ramos-Vinolas.
Cilic is a mediocre 1-4 lifetime against Nadal heading into Saturday’s contest, but his lone victory came during the Asian swing (albeit way back in 2009, when he cruised 6-1, 6-3 in Beijing). Of course, this is not the same Nadal as the one who limped down the stretch of the 2009 campaign. The top-ranked Spaniard is 15-0 in his last 15 matches, a stretch that includes titles at the U.S. Open and in Beijing. Two quick outings against Jared Donaldson and Fabio Fognini were just what the doctor orderer earlier this week, but Nadal needed two hours and 32 minutes to scrape past Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-3 on Friday. When playing well, as he is now, Cilic has the game that can trouble Nadal–serve huge and punish any short balls with flat groundstrokes. On a fast surface against an opponent who may be fatigued, the underdog may be able to execute that plan to perfection.
Pick: Cilic in 3
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If Rafa wins this it will be huge and will take his confidence skyhigh as he will reverse his losing streak against Federer and that too on a court suiting Roger totally. But I also feel Roger will be pumped to show who is the boss on this court. I still remember in 2015 which was novels splendid year how fed took him apart in the semi.
No, that’s 2014 when Djoko just got married. You seem to have the years mixed up! The court is/was fast, or not, Fed lost to ARV in his first match at Shanghai in 2015!!
Fed isn’t/wasn’t playing well now, I would even say that had it be Cilic that Fed was facing instead of Delpo, Fed might even lose the match. It takes Rafa’s good returns to help him barely edged out Cilic in straight sets (thank goodness it didn’t go the distance).
Delpo got frustrated with the crowd and let that affected him, losing his serve in set two. Cilic remained calm when his service games were under attack time and again by Rafa; I’m quite impressed with Cilic’s determination to fight on despite Rafa’s great defense. Perhaps Delpo got frustrated as the match dragged on, when his left wrist was still not 100% after the fall yesterday.
It’s good that even without Djoko, Murray and Stan, there’re Cilic and Delpo to provide the stern tests and competition to Fedal, making the matches more competitive and tense. Both giants are worthy opponents, when they could bring their best to trouble Fedal.
What’s the weather tomorrow. Hope they won’t close the roof 🙂
I saw the highlights of rafa cilic too. Rafa played well but he was going too much cc and not pulling the trigger to go dtl on forehand sooner. He was dragging points longer by doing this.
Rafa certainly playing better tennis than in both AO and IW! He is so confident out there, his Fhs work well and all he needs to do is execute his usual game plan against Fed: force him into long rallies and attack his backhand. This Rafa’s ROS could not even be compared to the Rafa of AO 2017: it’s so much more effective causing big damage to his opponents! And this story of Rafa being tired makes little sense: a 36 year old just played a three setter, so where exactly is his advantage physically wise?
Rafa playing this well with high confidence is hard to beat!
Vamos Rafa!
Agreed, Nats! Rafa for the win tomorrow!
I’ve just watched Rafa vs Roger – IW 2017. That Rafa would not have won Beijing let alone the USO. This Rafa is on another level now so Fed shouldn’t feel too cosy about their meeting tomorrow.
And it’s the opposite for Fed- current Fed may not have won IW and Miami… Rafa is playing better now, and Fed is playing worse. All reasons to support my pick of Rafa in 3.
I did not see Rafa’s match. I didn’t record it. I woke up to see Fed playing Delpo. At that point Delpo had won the first set and Fed seemed to be in trouble.
The tennis channel is replaying the matches again. Now they are showing the doubles. Then it will be Rafa. I want to see it for myself because some of the comments seem to indicate that Rafa was not entirely focused at times. I am just happy to see Rafa in another final! These are excellent back-to-back results.
I also saw that Fed managed to come back and win. I get that these courts should favor Fed. But I expect Rafa to come out determined in the final. I hope he saves his best for that match.
Rafa may be showing some signs of mental fatigue. But I still think he is going to do what he has to in order to get this win. That would be quite the feather in his cap.
I will have my thoughts after I see the match.
Tomorrow Rafa should beat Fed under the roof. Rafa will be tired but adernaline should carry him thru and he should be ready. If he wins , he is sure to be year end number 1. So, lots of incentives for him.
I dont think fatigue plays such a big part . These two are the best tennis players of all time. They know how to pull in last one big effort to get thru. Both have done it many times in their career.
Not expecting a very high voltage drama tomorrow, but it should be a high quality encounter.
Rafa is already sure to be YE #1. If this were pre-2013, I would say that Fed would have a shot still, but not a 36 year old man. He would have to win Shanghai, Basel, Paris, and WTF to have a chance at it, and that ain’t happening. Assuming Fed also makes the final in Basel, I’m quite sure he will pull out of Paris. His back would just about break in half at WTF if he tried to play Shanghai, Basel, and Paris leading up to it…
You’re most probably right. As a Fed fan I am not concerned right now about him being YE#1. I would be happy for him if he takes Shanghai and WTF; and later having good rest and preparation for AO18.
Agreed. Keep the intelligent scheduling consistent. There should be no concerns about year end number one for Roger.
Honestly, Benny and Eugene, what do you guys think about the idea of Fed calling it a season after tomorrow, no mater what the outcome is? I just feel like if Fed really does want to keep the majors a priority, he would give himself his best shot at a successful title defense at AO 2018 if he went into it having had another long lay-off. It obviously wouldn’t be 6 months like last year, but it would be a solid 3 1/2 months of rest. I highly doubt he would do it, as he has a big obligation to Basel and I’m sure he would love to try to win another WTF. But I wouldn’t knock him at all if he did pull the plug on 2017 tomorrow. What you think?
In his post-semi interview Rafa mentioned the fast, low-bouncing court. (Also the roof was closed today – I don’t know if that makes a difference to him in Shanghai). But he seemed quite pleased with his level of play and with the match.
Rafa’s PM interview
http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/video/nadal-reacts-to-sf-victory-in-shanghai-2017
Rafa would play Basel and skip Bercy I think. So, he gets a lot of rest before WTF.
Congrats to R. Nadal & R. Federer, their SF matches were tough but they came through.
I would say may the best player win but some of U might misunderstand, so to be specific i know R. Federer will win cos he is the best tennis player this year and one of THE BEST.
Federer will smoke Rafa tomorrow & it won’t be pretty, i know that defeating a good player is hard but to do it 3 times in year( those wins were less than 3 months ouch!) is Amazing & extremely difficult.
I expect Roger to take home this baby and make it 4-0 in a year double ouch! Ouch! Lol!
To be honest even if R. Federer loses( it won’t happen) 2morrow it won’t change a thing 3-1 or 4-0 won’t change the fact that Roger Federer has been ROGERLICIOUS.
#4-0
#bringhomethisbaby
#Ouch
Why is the roof closed. This is an outdoor tournament.
It’s raining all almost everyday in Shanghai, so the roof was closed most of the times.
Having just watched the first set of Rafa’s match, my impression is that Rafa stole that set right out from under Cilic.
Cilic had Rafa down 15-40 at 5-4. He had set points. Rafa even DF’d to give him another set point. But Rafa fought and held his serve in that game. Then he came back and broke Cilic with some stellar shot making. That set him up to serve it out. So I thought the first set was tightly contested with Rafa staying mentally tough in fighting off set points and then capitalizing by breaking Cilic and serving it out to take the first set.
I admit that I was worried about this match. I thought it would go three sets. I also didn’t realize until today that Ricky picked Cilic to win this match.
Now Rafa is up a break early in the second set 3-1.
yeah same. Hadn’t realized that Ricky had actually picked cilic!
The only think I am worried about is both Fed and Rafa pushing each other and in fact playing a bit too much. Murray won everything last year. And where is he this year ?
I hope whatever the outcome tomorrow, Rafa should skip both Basel and Paris both. Basel is only 1 week away, I am sure he will pull out of that one.
I just hope he beats Fed tomorrow. 4-0 would be embarrassing. If he beats Fed, then he will have massive confidence going into the WTF.
No way he is playing Basel. I can bet my house on that:)
Rafa in 2