Fish goes up against Tipsarevic in Rogers Cup semifinals

A surprising semifinal on Saturday in Montreal features Mardy Fish and Janko Tipsarevic. The winner will get a spot in the title match against either Novak Djokovic or Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Mardy Fish and Janko Tipsarevic will be squaring off for the fifth time in their careers when they do battle in a surprising Rogers Cup semifinal on Saturday. Fish leads the head-to-head series 3-1, but it is tied up at one win apiece on hard courts. They most recently faced each other last year in Beijing, where Fish prevailed 6-2, 7-6(5). Tipsarevic, though, is in the midst of what will go down as his best season on tour to date. The 24th-ranked Serb is an outstanding 34-16 for his 2011 campaign thanks to victories this week over Alejandro Falla, Fernando Verdasco, Ivan Dodig, and Tomas Berdych. Building on the momentum of a recent Washington quarterfinal, Tipsarevic is though to his first Masters 1000 semifinal.

Fish is enjoying just another stellar U.S. Open Series summer. The American cracked the Top 10 last year mainly thanks to performances in Atlanta and Cincinnati, and he looks poised to maintain his current No. 8 ranking. Fish, who repeated in Atlanta last month, has taken out Feliciano Lopez, Ernests Gulbis, and Stanislas Wawrinka so far in Montreal.

"Mardy is a really intelligent player," Tipsarevic said. "He's a typical example of an all-around player that can defend, stay back, be passive, but then on the other hand go to the net, play serve and volley and completely mix up the game."

Tipsarevic, meanwhile, can be lethal from the baseline when he is playing well--and that is exactly what he is doing right now. If Fish does not put in a high percentage of first serves, an upset is possible. Fish in three entertaining sets is the pick.