Last 8 in Paris are the 8 going to the world tour finals

[ICEMAN_9588]

Roger Federer.
Hats off.

[Florian]

The old Fed outlasting the young Delpo who was clearly not able to sustain long rallies in the end. (He played many weeks full of matchs since Tokyo, not a surprise).

At 0-3 in the 3rd this looked so much like Basel final, but since Shanghai every match is now clearly giving Fed more confidence. Fun match vs Rafa !

[Corbon]

What a great comeback in the 3rd set. Two Swiss in the Semis.

If there is a chance to beat Rafa, then it's certainly indoors.

[ICEMAN_9588]

Yes, but Federer should play like in one of his "God mode" days.
Plus, Nadal wil play the match with one more day rest, and today Federer hasn't played a soft (or short) match, he's been on court for 2 hours and a half.
Just to increase the fitness gap (which is enormous already) between him and Rafa.

For sure, Roger has H2H from his side (it's strange to say that when he faces Rafa).
But it's not 2006-2007 (nor even 2010) anymore, unfortunately.

[Ali-Iqb93]

Federer for the win.. No matter what People will keep writing him off and I hope he proves them wrong tomorrow.. I hope for an epic battle in semis

[Moralspain]

Boring match, once again Nadal just had to focus his game on Fed's BH, that's all he needs to beat Fed.
It's unbeliavable that after playing against Rafa 100000 matches he hasn't found a solution yet ( he never will, obviously). He tries nothing, why don't you slice your BH Roger?, just give it a shot, it could work, and we all could watch an interesting match again between you both

[Corbon]

Same old but first victory by Rafa over Fed at the ATP Finals.

22-10 now wow.

Moral, slicing to Rafa's forehand won't do a thing. Also Fed's approach shots aren't good enough anymore to kill the ball at the net and keep points short.

[ICEMAN_9588]

Boring match, once again Nadal just had to focus his game on Fed's BH, that's all he needs to beat Fed.
It's unbeliavable that after playing against Rafa 100000 matches he hasn't found a solution yet ( he never will, obviously). He tries nothing, why don't you slice your BH Roger?, just give it a shot, it could work, and we all could watch an interesting match again between you both

Short slice (classic Federer shot) doesn't work either, against Nadal.
Against almost all other players, this shot goes low on the backhand side, and almost all players have double handed. That makes it really hard to handle.

Of course, Nadal "loves" it, cause it goes straight on his forehand.
And even if Roger hits it down the line, Rafa has the speed (or, better, the foot work) to move around the ball and going with the forehand.

To be effective, Federer should hit it down the line, but really deep in the court. And that, of course, isn't always possible.
Cause of one, big, reason essentially: try to play your one-handed bh down the line (top, flat, slice) when the ball bounces to you higher than your shoulder, and with side effect (I mean, when the bounce goes laterally), and tell me how many succesful shots you got.
And of course, your shots cannot be only down the line, cause Rafa can attack them with a cross court backhand (a shot that he has improved during the years).

I mean, they face each other since 9 years (firs meeting in 2004). Federer knows really well what to do, but it's not always possible.
Plus, even if he's leading the rally, he needs to hit 2, 3, 4 winners in a row, cause 1 is not enough. He wasn't always able to do that at his best, now it's much much harder.

Rafa was "born" to be his virus.

[BrushedBigJJ]

Since Rafa's return, between Nole and Rafa whoever has been ranked higher has done worse in each tournament. The exception being Monte Carlo and Wimbeldon. Rafa locked up #1 after he won his Beijing semi-final. Djokivic beat him in the final and has done better than him at every tournament since Nadal locked up #1. Nadal is gonna be #1 for a while regardless but just like with Djokivic, if he keeps being beaten by #2 he won't feel like a soild #1. Monday is a big chance for Nadal to beak this pattern. Although the pattern is probably good for the sport cause the #1 will flip flop a whole lot in the future if they keep this up.

[ICEMAN_9588]

Fact is that there isn't a number 1 and 2 in the ranking. Right now we have two number 1 players.
But it's true, tonight it's Nadal's big chance to win the only great title he hasn't.

To me, Nole is slightly favourite (let's say 55%-45%), but if Nadal will glimpse a real, concrete chance to get the victory, nobody could stop him.

[Corbon]

Nole has been my favourite since the beginning. He's mopped up everyone past the USO and there were no real signs where he has lost momentum, maybe in S1 vs Federer. He's also the better player indoors. It may be a 3 setter though.

[Florian]

Nole in 3. No question about that even if he doesn't play his current best.

[Moralspain]

Nole in 3. No question about that even if he doesn't play his current best.

I'm with you guys, Novak is better player playing indoors, but experience has taught me that if Rafa is on court anything can happen

[Ali-Iqb93]

I think Nole will get it in straight sets..

[djarvik]

Vamos Roger! Roger in 4.