ATP Madrid Saturday Preview

Rafael Nadal vs. Roger Federer

Spain's Rafael Nadal brushed aside Frenchman Michael Llodra to reach the Mutua Madrid Open semi-finals, in which he will square off against arch-rival Roger Federer. Nadal was fresh coming into the match after receiving a walkover the day before when Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro withdrew with a hip injury. The Spaniard controlled the match especially on Llodra’s serve, when the Frenchman missed on serves then Nadal was all over it.

Federer needed to be more focused to past by a dangerous Soderling, he made a solid match facing only two break points and that in second set. There are few encouraging things on Federer side to at least see an interesting semi-final. The Swiss served well in all three matches so far, in fact his serve was the main asset against Lopez and Soderling but also he came with the right shot in key moments, at match point against Lopez with an ace and vary shots against Soderling.

Recently these were the setbacks for the Swiss, an unexpected loss of nerve, or focus, on critical points but that changed in Madrid. Looking at the forecast today shows a high chance for rain and conditions will be more indoors and the play will be faster on court which will give a slight advantage for the Swiss. Federer’s serve worked well here and showed against Soderling a solid tennis on court maneuvering the Swede well, conditions indoors will suits better for him and an upset here isn’t out of cards, is hard to go against Nadal on clay but the odds are very tempting.

Thomaz Bellucci vs. Novak Djokovic

David Ferrer presented the biggest threat yet to Novak Djokovic's unbeaten run in 2011, Ferrer kept him on court for nearly 2 and a half hours. He looked that will have a routine match with a set and a break up but Ferrer is the kind of player who doesn’t give up easily and that showed when he bounced back and managed to force a decider. But his unbeaten record gave him the upper hand in decider managing to break the Spaniard serve for a decisive game. Serbian struck 6 aces and won 78% of the disputed points when he has placed the first serve on court.

He will face now Bellucci who looked confident against Berdych. The Brazilian, after the win against Murray, showed a confident tennis taking the ball earlier and being solid behind the serve, he went for his shots and putted pressure on the Czech from the first exchange.

"I think I can beat any player. Djokovic and Ferrer are very good players and they are in a very good moment for themselves. But they are not invincible", said a confident Brazilian after his match.

This will be the key of the match, the confidence that he has a chance against a player which is unbeaten this year. The conditions will be on fast side as rain is expected and under the closed roof the Serb is favorite but looking at the solid tennis showed by Bellucci against Berdych and his newest confidence.