French Open 2012 Semifinal Preview: Novak Djokovic vs Roger Federer

The Serb has never won at Roland Garros while the Swiss has won only once against a not so powerful opponent - Robin Soderling. Each of these fine players would be desperate to improve on his paltry record. Thanks to the almighty Spaniard Rafael Nadal these men have always found the French Open elusive. However, that doesn’t stop them from trying and here they are once more to claim glory in the king of all clay courts. Only one of them can reach the final and in all possibility will encounter Rafa. Will the Djoker avenge the loss he suffered at the hands of  the Fed-Express in the French Open semi-final last year? Or will the Swiss have the last laugh? Its game on at Roland Garros!

Head to head

The two gentlemen have met each other 25 times on court with the Swiss leading the head-to-head count 14-11. However, recent trends point toward Djokovic with the Serb winning five out of their last six clashes. He defeated Federer 6-2, 7-6 when they last met at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Rome. With Roger’s recent form has been patchy and Djokovic at his peak, the odds seem to be stacked in favour of the Serb.

Route to semi-final

Djokovic was hardly troubled in the first three rounds of the tournament as he dispatched his opponents in style. A 7-6, 6-3, 6-1  victory over Potito Starace in the first round was followed by a 6-0, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Blaz Kavcic in the second round. After easily overcoming Nicolas Devilder 6-1, 6-1, 6-2 in the third round, Djokovic faced his first real test against Italian Andreas Seppi. Seppi shocked tennis fans worldwide when he was two sets up against the Serb but he couldn’t manage to stage an upset and lost the next three sets 3-6, 5-7, 3-6. Djokovic’s semifinal clash with Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is arguably one of the best matches of the tournament so far. The game see-sawed between the two before going Djokovic’s way. The Serb won the first set 6-1, before losing the next two sets 5-7, 5-7. In the fourth set, Djokovic controlled his nerves to save four match points and won 7-6. By the time, Tsonga was visibly tired and hardly mounted a challenge in the last set, capitulating 1-6.

Federer reached the semi-final after overcoming quite a few struggles. Though he was up against unseeded opponents in the first four
rounds, he did not post convincing victories. He defeated German Tobias Kamke 6-2, 7-5, 6-3 to enter the second round, in which he defeated Adrian Ungur 6-3, 6-2, 6-7, 6-3 . In the third round game against Nicolas Mahut, the Swiss dropped the second set before winning 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5. Promising young Belgian David Bolfin gave a shock to Federer when he won the first set of the fourth round 5-7. But Federer proved his class to win the next three games 7-5, 6-2, 6-4. Federer then pulled off a coup of sorts in the quarterfinal clash against Juan Martin del Potro. After losing the first two sets 3-7, 6-7, Federer came back superbly and pocketed the next three sets 6-2, 6-0, 6-3.

As Federer aims to win at Roland Garros for only the second time while Djokovic intends to be only the third player in history to hold all the four Grand slam titles at the same time, tennis aficionados can expect a classic contest between the two.

Tags: Djokovic, Federer, Nadal, Preview

Category: French Open, Tennis