ATP Tennis Masters Cup: Semi Finals

The big money end-of-season spectacular that is the ATP Tennis Masters Cup tournament in Shanghai has reached the semi-final stages for both the main singles players and the doubles teams.

In the singles, the rather predictable sight of Roger Federer has emerged after an unbeaten 3-0 score in his three round robin matches in the Red Group. This hides the fact that he had to save three match points against a resurgent Andy Roddick who feels he is on the upswing again after adjustments to his blockbuster style of game by new coach Jimmy Connors. Federer proved his credentials by winning the crucial points and then giving no second chance to the American.

Each of the other players in the Red Group scored 1-2, meaning they all lost to Federer and also took matches off the other. This sums up the crucial difference between themselves and Roger Federer – a lack of consistency. In the end, although looking unlikely at one stage, reigning Masters Cup Champion, David Nalbandian, scraped through to the semi-final with Federer, at the expense of Roddick and Ivan Ljubicic, who is usually more reliable on an indoor court.

In the Gold Group, Rafael Nadal and James Blake qualified for the semi-final which resulted in the surprising elimination of the in-form Russian star, Nikolay Davydenko. Nadal was thinly priced at the outset but his successes had been weighted toward the earlier part of the year so those odds seemed too narrow. He has therefore done well to qualify for this semi-final at the expense of Davydenko and the outsider and fellow Spaniard, Tommy Robredo. James Blake is the true outsider of the four but nonetheless a force to be reckoned with as someone who has brought his recent form into these finals.

The first of the semi-finals sees a clash of the two leaders of the INDESIT ATP Tennis Race, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Incredibly, their record reads Federer 2 Nadal 6. However, this semi-final will be played on an indoor surface, not Nadal's surface of choice, clay. The bookies are clear who will win this match with Federer generally quoted at a prohibitive 1/6. If you feel Nadal can pull off a shock, Bet365 will lay 9/2.

The second semi-final is between American James Blake and Argentina's David Nalbandian, the latter also keen to defend his title that he won in amazing fashion last year at the expense of Federer after initially going two sets down. Bet365 quote Nalbandian at 8/11 while you can get 5/4 on Blake at Sporting Odds with most layers at 1/1.

The overall win market is on offer and it looks like this:

Roger Federer 1/4 with Coral
Rafael Nadal 8/1 with Blue Square Betting
David Nalbandian 13/1 with Extrabet
James Blake 14/1 with Bet Direct

In practice, Federer's recent form is so far above that of Nadal's, the latter's price is arguably tight but nagging at the back of Federer's mind could be the taste of defeat that he has experienced at the hands of Nadal on several occasions. The Spaniard has demonstrated some fighting spirit here in Shanghai and there are no players with more of that and Nadal has bucketfuls of stamina. Federer could be in for a tough game.

Nalbandian will also be fired up to defend the title and Blake will have a battle on his hands but when it comes to a semi-final in a tournament that might pay over $1,000,000 in total to the eventual winner, anything is possible.

The doubles semi-finals are between the following pairings:

P Hanley (Australia) & K Ullyett (Zimbabwe) v M Knowles (Bahamas) & D Nestor (Canada)
J Bjorkman (Sweden) & M Mirnyi (BLR) v M Damm (Czech Republic) & L Paes (IND)

Ed note: Claim a £25 Free Bet when you open an account at Blue Square Betting

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