Match Prediction 17/5/08 Hamburg

Hamburg – Germany - Semi Finals

Roger Federer SWI (1) – Andreas Seppi ITA (43)

Federer has not been pushed in this tournament as yet and it is hard to see Seppi providing him with too much trouble here. The Italian looked very nervous a number of times during his quarter final clash with Kiefer yesterday and if the highly charged German could have kept his cool at the crucial times he would have advanced. Instead Kiefer lost focus moaning at the referee and line judges at balls that were clearly in.

To a certain extent I think that the German deserved a semi final place as he has played very well this week but he got lost in the moment. Fair play to Seppi for plugging along but against Federer he will not allowed a second chance and I think a routine straight sets win is on the cards here for the Swiss master.

Predicted Winner :: Federer

Novak Djokovic SRB (3) – Rafael Nadal ESP (2)

The biggest match of the year so far in my opinion. Can Djokovic reach number two in the world? I’m not so sure. Nadal will do everything possible to beat the Serb here to protect his ranking and I think he will pull a big performance out of the bag.

Djokovic is without question a  better player on hard but on the dirt its a different story. The Spaniard is known as an unbelievable mover, particularly on clay and I can back this up having seen him training in Monte Carlo a couple of weeks ago. He is extraordinarily quick around the court and Djokovic will have to be at the top of his game. The Serb is yet to take a set of Nadal on clay but I wouldn’t be surprised if it happened here.

The player of the year so far is full of confidence and he will surely fancy his chances as Nadal possibly isn’t 100 percent after his second round exit last week, due to a blister on his foot. With Djokovic’ solid groundstrokes we are sure to see some long rallys and he will have to keep away from Nadal’s forehand wing as much as possible as it has been devastating in recent weeks.

I think this match will be close but Nadal will come through in three.

Predicted Winner :: Nadal