ATP Gstaad – Saturday Semi-finals Preview

Nicolas Almagro vs. Fernando Verdasco

Nicolas Almagro and Fernando Verdasco clash again in the semi-finals of the Swiss Open in Gstaad today.

It's the Almagro and Verdasco show for the second time in a week. It happened exactly seven days ago in Hamburg and Verdasco did not fare too well, he got crushed as Almagro dropped just 5 games to make the final. All the evidence this week suggests he may suffer a similar fate today. Almagro had not completed a match until Friday but he oozed confidence to prevail against Jarkko Nieminen and then defeat the in-form Feliciano Lopez 6-4, 7-5. Can he reach a sixth clay-court final of the year ? Do not bet against him.

To his credit, Verdasco has staged a mini revival over the past few weeks, toughing out a number of three setters and he did the same again to defeat experienced Frenchman Julien Benneteau 6-4, 5-7, 6-1 in Friday's quarters.

However he's not playing well enough at the moment to defeat Almagro who looks well on course to defend his title from last year.

Mikhail Youzhny vs. Marcel Granollers

Mikhail Youzhny goes for his third straight win over Marcel Granollers in the Gstaad semi-finals today.

Youzhny finally cracked his Gstaad curse and made it through to the semis of this event but it was far from easy for the Russian. He eventually battled past Austria's Andreas Haider-Maurer 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 for his 20th win over the year.

However he has a tough task today against Granollers who silenced the home crowd with a 6-3, 6-2 win over second seed Stanislas Wawrinka, the last remaining Swiss player in the draw.

The second seed was never really in the match and was broken five times. It's a first ATP semi-final of the year for Granollers and comes somewhat out of the blue. The last time he really appeared to hit form was back last autumn on the indoor circuit.

"Stan is a very good player. It’s tough to beat him and I played a very solid match," said Granollers. "Maybe Stan made some mistakes, but I think from my side I played solid and didn’t make many mistakes from the baseline. I’ve been here since Sunday and I’m playing better day by day, so I’m happy."

However Youzhny has won both their previous matches, each in 2011. He outplayed Granollers 6-2, 7-6 in Rotterdam and 6-3, 6-4 in Dusseldorf.

Youzhny was also unconvincing early on in Hamburg last week before raising his game in the semis, coming close to defeating eventual winner Gilles Simon.