Our redaction decided to guess, who's gonna end up as the winner of the Australian Open 2008 semifinals. It is defenitely not easy, but let's play!
Men's Semifinal No.1- (1) Roger Federer (sui) vs (3) Novak Djokovic (srb)
These two played each other six times. Roger leads the head to heads 5:1, but only two of those matches took place while Novak held the number three in the world. Both matches were very close affairs. In the Toronto final Djokovic managed to beat Fed 7/6 2/6 7/6, while in US Open final Federer won 7/6 7/6 6/4. The young Serb waisted plenty of setpoints in the first two sets.
Talking about their current form, both are in good shape, but only Novak managed not to loose a set during the AO 2008. Federer had to play 5 sets against Tipsarevic in 3rd round.
Djokovic is capable of beating the nr. 1, but he would have to win more of those most important points. Anyway Federer goes into that one as the strong favourite.
Our verdict: Federer (5 sets)
Men's Semifinal No.2- (2) Rafael Nadal (esp) vs Jo Wilfried Tsonga (fra)
They played each other only once, during last years US Open. Nadal won quite easily 7/6 6/2 6/1. From that moment a lot had changed. Now Tsonga is a much more mature player. He has beaten great players at the Aussie Open '08, just to mention: Murray, Gasquet and Youzhny. He has no fear of winning. He has an incredible forehand and serves unbelivebly well .
But, on the other side of the net, there will be the toughest opponent Tsonga could imagine. Rafael Nadal seems to be in good form. He has already beaten three french players here and now is aiming for his fourth scalp. He won all his matches in stright sets, he is injury free and he is aiming for his first Australian Open final.
Our verdict: Nadal (4 sets)
Our verdict: Nadal (4 sets)
Woman's Semifinal No.1 - (5) Maria Sharapova (rus) vs (3) Jelena Jankovic (srb)
First of the two semifinals include the former world No.1 Maria Sharapova and the feisty Serb Jelena Jankovic. Both of them beat not only surprisingly their opponents in the quarters but also have done it in some style. The head to heads gives the advantage to the Russian (3:1 in her favour), but the tennis starlet sends out a warning to all those, who think the coquer of Serena Williams hasn't got a chance "Previous matches don't count. This is a new encounter, a new match. This is a great opportunity for both of us. I'm very excited about the matchup. Ever since the juniors we've always played really tough and we've always battled it out, and it's great to see her in the semis. It's great we're playing together. " Though Jelena did manage to win only one of the four encounters against Sharapova it is important to mention it was the pairs last meeting. There's also a interesting staticstic, that every matchup between those two was won by the player, who was higher in the rankings. Thanks to an ultra-consistant last year, the Serb is ranked above the Russian and will defenitely try to make this tradition last.
Still, we think Maria will have the edge in this match, not only because she's in a fanatastic form, but rather because Jankovic os close to fall apart with her various ailings and injuries.
Our verdict: Sharapova (2 sets)
The second semifinal will be a much closer affair. Both players met three times All matches took place last year, while both players were in the TOP 10, so that gives as a very good indication on how their chances are. Hantuchova won the first one on grass. Ivanovic had the upper hand in the following two, that were played in indoors. Both players seem to be in great form, as both of them showed fenomenal tennis in the quarters. Daniela is the older one and should have the experience-factor on her side, but the Serb is far more experienced in terms of playing in the semifinals of a Grand Slam (with an 1 all stat in that department). We can assume she will not be as much stressed at the beginning of the match as Daniela, for whom this is the first GS semi-showing. There's this feeling she will be able to bounce back in the second set. She may win it or just loose it in a close tiebreaker. If she manages to squeez it, she may go all the way, but it is Ivanovic who will be the liklier winner at the end, as she can handle the pressure better than the Slovak.
Our verdict: Ivanovic (3 sets)
~shaw
~jachal
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