ATP Hamburg –Saturday Semi-Finals Preview

Mikhail Youzhny vs. Gilles Simon

Fourth seed Mikhail Youzhny looks to reach the Hamburg final, as he squares off against familiar opponent Gilles Simon. The players are set to contest their 9th meeting early Saturday.

World No. 17 Mikhail Youzhny holds a commanding 7-1 series advantage against fifth seed Gilles Simon. The two last met in Dubai, where the Frenchman won his first match over the Russian. Saturday marks their first clash on clay.

Youzhny advanced to the last four with a three-set victory over 12th seed Marin Cilic. The 29-year-old saved two match points, en route to a 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(6) victory on Friday. He is bidding for his first championship final berth of the season. World No. 18 Gilles Simon defeated fellow Frenchman Gael Monfils in the quarterfinal, 6-4, 3-6, 6-0. The 26-year-old will attempt to make his first final since January, when he captured the title in Sydney.

When asked about this match, Simon said, "I think tomorrow's match is going to be hard.  I have defeated him only once and I lost seven times. He further added that, "But what is good is that I won the last match against him in Dubai this year. It will help me tomorrow with the confidence on the court also. I hope I will be able to play the same way I played the third set today."

Obviously, Youzhny looks huge favourite in this battle, but the Frenchman has all the power in his arsenal to stop the Russian.

Nicolas Almagro vs. Fernando Verdasco

Spaniard duel in Hamburg with both players looking for a place in the final. Fernando Verdasco was in poor form but is close of his best results, he came after a tough match against Melzer but was more the Austrian who made the unforced errors and also the winners while Verdasco stayed more on expectative.

Almagro instead he looked solid against local player Mayer, he was solid behind the serve with 13 aces and only one double fault wining 67% points behind 71% percentage of first serve in. Also he stayed solid from the back of the court hitting with a lot of power, his defense was solid as he was broke only once from the same opportunity and that when was up front.

H2h is 3-1 for Verdasco with all meetings on clay, the most recent one won by Almagro. Verdasco stays too much in expectative and doesn’t play his usual aggressive match while Almagro plays well here and is very motivate on court, his serve has more sting and looks tougher from the back of the court and if he will keep his errors low he will have the upper hand.