Djokovic, Federer & Ferrer Fight For Finals: 2015 Rome Open

terracotta-ferrer-nole-roger

If the quarter-finals showed up anything on Friday at the 2015 Rome Open is that the semi-finals fight for the end should be some powerhouse tennis on Saturday. Stan Wawrinka shocked the place when he knocked the king of clay Rafael Nadal out of the Open, and now Roger Federer takes on Wawarinka who may still be very pumped up for yesterday’s win while Novak Djokovic has David Ferrer.

Novak Djokovic had his work cut for him with Kei Nishikori who took stunned the Serbian number one ranked tennis player when he took the second set. He roared back loudly in the third set showing that he wasn’t going to go out and he rallied back to win.

Update: Djokovic already knocked out David Ferrer 6-4, 6-4 so he will more than likely (in my opinion) playing Roger Federer which will be an amazing match to watch. Wawrinka could surprise us, but I don’t think it will happen today.

The semi-finals of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia feature the top two players in the Emirates ATP Rankings, Novak Djokovicand Roger Federer along with No. 8 David Ferrer and No. 9 Stan Wawrinka. Djokovic, who is the reigning champion, is attempting to capture his fourth Rome title (2008, ’11, ’14) while the other three, all former finalists, are looking to earn their first crown in Rome. In the opening semi-final, Djokovic brings a 14-5 career record against Ferrer, having won the past eight meetings, although the Spaniard is 3-2 on clay. Ferrer reached the final in 2010. In the second semi-final, three-time (2003, ’06, ’13) Rome finalist Federer takes a 15-2 head-to-head advantage (3-2 on clay) against countryman Wawrinka, who was runner-up in 2008.

Below is the full updated 2015 Rome Open draw schedule below.

novak djokovic wins 2015 rome open

DJOKOVIC WINNING STREAKS: Djokovic  won his 20th match in a row on Friday and in the process accomplished the feat for the fourth time in his career. His last loss came to Federer in the Dubai final on Feb. 28.

Federer leads the way with seven 20+ winning streaks during his career, followed by Nadal (6), Djokovic (4) and Lendl (4) and three players with three: Borg, McEnroe, and Sampras. The longest unbeaten run in the Open Era (since 1968) belongs to Guillermo Vilas, who put together 46 wins in a row in 1977.

roger federer vs stan wawrinka rome open 2015

•    FEDERER CLOSE TO ELUSIVE CROWN: Rome is one of two ATP Masters 1000 titles missing from Federer’s collection (along with Monte-Carlo). The Swiss is making his 15th appearance in the Italian capital – at no other tournament has he appeared more without winning the title. He has reached the final here three times: 2003 (l. to Mantilla), 2006 (l. to Nadal) and 2013 (l. to Nadal).

•    300 CLAY WINS CLUB: Ferrer comes into the semi-finals with a career record of 299-115 on clay. He is trying to become the 12th player in the Open Era with at least 300 tour level wins on clay.

•    A GLANCE AT SEMI-FINALISTS: Here’s a look at what each player is trying to do…

– Djokovic is looking to reach his 34th ATP Masters 1000 final (23-10) and 76th overall (52-23)
– Ferrer is looking to reach his 8th ATP Masters 1000 final (1-6) and  50th overall (24-25)
– Federer is looking to reach his 41st ATP Masters 1000 final (23-17) and 129th overall (85-43)
– Wawrinka is looking to reach his 4th ATP Masters 1000 final (1-2) and 19th overall (9-9)

•    BIG FOUR DOMINATION: The quartet of Djokovic, Federer, Nadal and Murray have accounted for 43 of the last 47 ATP Masters 1000 tournaments (since 2010 Monte-Carlo). The only exceptions came at Paris-Bercy in 2010 (Soderling) and 2012 (Ferrer) and last year in Monte-Carlo (Wawrinka) and Toronto (Tsonga). Since Tsonga’s title in Toronto in August, the last seven ATP Masters 1000 tournaments have been won by Djokovic (four), Federer (two) or Murray (one).

DAY 7 SEMI-FINAL FEDEX ATP HEAD2HEADS

CENTRALE

[1] Novak Djokovic (SRB) vs [7] David Ferrer (ESP)

FedEx ATP Head2Head: Djokovic leads 14-5
2004     Bucharest (Romania)            Clay    R16    David Ferrer    4-6 6-4 6-4
2007     ATP Masters 1000 Indian Wells (USA)    Hard    QF    Novak Djokovic    6-3 6-4
2007     ATP Masters 1000 Monte Carlo (Monaco)    Clay    R16    David Ferrer    7-5 6-4
2007     US Open (USA)                Hard    SF    Novak Djokovic    6-4 6-4 6-3
2007     Tennis Masters Cup (China)        Hard    RR    David Ferrer    6-4 6-4
2008     Australian Open (Australia)        Hard    QF    Novak Djokovic    6-0 6-3 7-5
2009     Dubai (U.A.E.)                Hard    F    Novak Djokovic    7-5 6-3
2009     ESP vs. SRB WG 1st RD (Spain)        Clay    RR    David Ferrer    6-3 6-3 7-6(4)
2010     Beijing (China)                Hard    F    Novak Djokovic    6-2 6-4
2011     ATP Masters 1000 Madrid (Spain)        Clay    QF    Novak Djokovic    6-4 4-6 6-3
2011     Barclays ATP World Tour Finals (England) Hard    RR    David Ferrer    6-3 6-1
2012     Australian Open (Australia)        Hard    QF    Novak Djokovic    6-4 7-6(4) 6-1
2012     ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Miami (USA)    Hard    QF    Novak Djokovic    6-2 7-6(1)
2012     US Open (USA)                Hard    SF    Novak Djokovic    2-6 6-1 6-4 6-2
2013     Australian Open (Australia)        Hard    SF    Novak Djokovic    6-2 6-2 6-1
2013     ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Paris     Hard    F    Novak Djokovic    7-5 7-5
2014     ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Rome     Clay    QF    Novak Djokovic    7-5 4-6 6-3
2014     ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Shanghai    Hard    QF    Novak Djokovic     6-4 6-2
2015     ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Miami    Hard    QF    Novak Djokovic    7-5 7-5

•    Djokovic comes into SF after three straight-set decisive-set wins (10-1 this year), posting his
•    150th career clay-court 6-1, 6-7(5), 6-3, over Nicolas Almagro in his opening match, then following with a 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 defeat of BrazilianThomaz Bellucci and No. 5 seed Kei Nishikori    6-3, 3-6, 6-1. He has wins over all nine different Top 10 opponents this season and leads ATP World Tour with a 12-1 record. Has held serve 40 of 43 games this week (93%).
•    Djokovic has reached QF or better here on all nine of his visits (32-5), winning the title in 2008 (d. Wawrinka), 2011 and last year (d. Nadal both). Also runner-up in 2009 and ‘12 (l. to Nadal both)
•    Djokovic leads the ATP World Tour with a 33-2 match record (8-0 on clay) and four titles this season. Djokovic’s lone clay-court outing came in Monte-Carlo where he became the first player to capture the opening three ATP Masters 1000 events of the season. In the Principality, the Serb closed with three consecutive Top 10 wins over Marin Cilic, Rafael Nadal and Tomas Berdych.
•    Djokovic is on a 20-match winning streak, which also includes his title runs in Indian Wells (d. Federer) and Miami (d. Murray). His victory at Indian Wells saw him become the 11th player in the Open Era to win 50 titles, surpassing Rod Laver and coach Boris Becker, who both finished their careers on 49. He now has 52 titles to his name.
•    Djokovic has won 23 ATP Masters 1000 titles during his career, putting him level with Federer (23) and four short of Nadal (27). The trio rank in the Top 3 for titles won at this tournament level.
•    In January, Djokovic became the first man in the Open Era to win fiveAustralian Open titles, defeating Murray in the final. It was his eighth Grand Slam crown, putting him level with Agassi, Connors, Lendl, Perry and Rosewall in eighth place on the all-time list for most major titles.
•    Djokovic’s last defeat came against Federer in the Dubai final on Feb. 28. His only other loss this year came in the opening week of the season in Doha, falling to Ivo Karlovic in QF.
•    Since falling to Nadal in last year’s Roland Garros final, Djokovic has posted a 24-2 record against fellow Top 10 players.
•    Djokovic has won a 6-0 set on 10 separate occasions this season. This is the third time he has won 10-more 6-0 sets in a season, after posting 13 in 2011 and 14 in 2013.
•    In 2014, Djokovic finished the season at No. 1 for the third time in four years, winning an ATP World Tour-high seven titles in eight finals. His season was highlighted by capturing a second Wimbledon crown, four ATP Masters 1000 titles and the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London.
•    Ferrer advanced to the semi-finals for the fourth time (‘05-SF, ’10-Rup, ’12-SF) with a 62 46 63 win over Belgian David Goffin. Notched his 30th win of the season with a 6-4, 7-5 defeat of Richard Gasquet in his opener (2R). Then cruised past compatriot Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-1, 6-3 in 3R. Has held serve 28 of 33 games (.848) and leads in return games won (41%, 13 of 32) this week.
•    Ferrer is making his 12th appearance in Rome with his best result a runner-up showing in 2010 (d. No. 5 Murray, No. 10 Tsonga, No. 9 Verdasco; l. to Nadal), his first career ATP Masters 1000 final
•    Ferrer has reached at least QF at 12 of his last 14 ATP Masters 1000 events, including four this year: Miami (l. to Djokovic), Monte-Carlo (l. to Nadal), Madrid (l. to Nishikori) and Rome, which is Spaniard’s first SF in ‘15
•    Ferrer has won three ATP World Tour titles this year (two 500 level), bringing his career haul to 24. He captured the Doha title in the opening week of the season (d. Berdych), before posting back-to-back tournament wins at the ATP 500 events in Rio de Janeiro (d. Fognini) and Acapulco (d. Nishikori). He became the first player since Ivan Lendl in 1985 to win back-to-back tournaments on two different surfaces.
•    In 2014, Ferrer finished in the Top 10 for the fifth year in a row and sixth overall, reaching the QF or better 17 times, while clinching a lone title in Buenos Aires (d. Fognini).
•    Has a 51-100 career record against Top 10 opponents (2-4 this season). Trying to post his sixth career win over a World No. 1. Has three wins over Nadal (’11 Aust. Open,  ’13 Paris-Bercy, ’14 Monte-Carlo)  and one over Djokovic (’11 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals) and one over Agassi (’03 Rome, also first career Top 10 win).

[8] Stan Wawrinka (SUI) vs [2] Roger Federer (SUI)

FedEx ATP Head2Head: Federer leads 15-2
2005     Rotterdam (The Netherlands)         Hard     R16     Roger Federer     6-1 6-4
2006     Dubai (U.A.E.)                 Hard     R32     Roger Federer     7-6(3) 6-3
2009     ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Monte Carlo Clay     R16     Stan Wawrinka     6-4 7-5
2009     ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Montreal     Hard     R16     Roger Federer     6-3 7-6(5)
2010     ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Madrid     Clay     R16     Roger Federer    6-3 6-1
2010     Roland Garros (France)             Clay     R16     Roger Federer     6-3 7-6(5) 6-2
2010     Stockholm (Sweden)             Hard     QF     Roger Federer     2-6 6-3 6-2
2011     Australian Open (Australia)         Hard     QF     Roger Federer     6-1 6-3 6-3
2011     ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Indian Wells Hard     QF     Roger Federer     6-3 6-4
2011     Roland Garros (France)             Clay     R16     Roger Federer     6-3 6-2 7-5
2011     Basel (Switzerland)             Hard     SF     Roger Federer     7-6(5) 6-2
2012     ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Cincinnati     Hard     SF     Roger Federer     7-6(4) 6-3
2012     ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Shanghai     Hard     R16     Roger Federer     4-6 7-6(4) 6-0
2013     ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Indian Wells Hard     R16     Roger Federer     6-3 6-7(4) 7-5
2014     ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Monte Carlo Clay    F    Stan Wawrinka    4-6 7-6(5) 6-2
2014     Wimbledon (Great Britain)        Grass    QF    Roger Federer    3-6 7-6(5) 6-4 6-4
2014     Barclays ATP World Tour Finals (London)    Hard    SF    Roger Federer    4-6 7-5 7-6(6)

•    Wawrinka is appearing in his first semi-final here since 2008 when he reached the final (l. to Djokovic). Rallied from 2-6 deficit in 1st set TB vs. No. 4 seed Nadal to win 76(7) 62 (first clay win over Spaniard, 1-5). In 3R, beatDominic Thiem 7-6(3), 6-4, and in his opening match rallied past Juan Monaco, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. Has held serve 29 of 35 games (.829) this week, saving 16 of 22 break pts. (73%) and has converted 11 of 19 break pts. (58%), best among remaining players
•    Wawrinka is playing in Rome for the 11th time. He finished runner-up here in 2008, posting Top 10 wins over No. 8 James Blake and No. 6 Andy Roddick (l. to Djokovic in 3 sets).
•    Wawrinka captured the eighth and ninth titles of his career in Chennai (d.Aljaz Bedene) and Rotterdam (d. Berdych) either side of a SF appearance at the Australian Open (l. to Djokovic).
•    Wawrinka suffered early exits in both Indian Wells (l. to Haase in 2R) and Miami (l. to Mannarino in 3R) in March. He also fell to Dimitrov in both the 3R in Monte-Carlo and last week in Madrid.
•    Coming into this week, Wawrinka hadn’t won back-to-back matches since Rotterdam in February.
•    In 2014, Wawrinka finished in the Top 10 for the second year in a row at a year-end high No. 4. He captured his first Grand Slam crown at Australian Open (d. Nadal), first ATP Masters 1000 title in Monte-Carlo (d. Federer) and won the Davis Cup with Switzerland for the first time.
•    Has a 39-71 career record vs. Top 10 opponents (4-1 this year)
•    Federer reached the SFs for the third time in past four years with a 63 63 win over No. 6 Tomas Berdych on Friday. With the win he also surpassed $90 million in career prize money. In 3R, posted a 6-3, 7-5 win over Kevin Anderson and in his opening round he beat Pablo Cuevas for the second time in three weeks, 7-6, 6-4. Only player yet to drop a set this week and leads tournament in first serve pts. won (84%) and has held serve 28 of 31 games (90%)
•    Federer is playing in Rome for the 15th time. He is still chasing a first title here, falling in the final three times: 2003 (l. to Felix Mantilla), 2006 (l. to Nadal) and 2013 (l. to Nadal). Last year, fell in his opening match at the Foro Italico, losing to Jeremy Chardy.
•    Federer suffered an early exit in Madrid, falling to Nick Kyrgios in his opening match (after holding two match pts.). It was the Swiss’ first loss to a player aged 20 or younger since defeat to del Potro in the 2009 US Openfinal.
•    After a 3R loss to Gael Monfils in Monte-Carlo, Federer bounced back by capturing an 85th career title in Istanbul earlier this month (d. Cuevas). Turkey became the 19th different country in which he has won an ATP World Tour title.
•    Only two players have won more titles than Federer (85): Connors (109) and Lendl (94).
•    En route to his title in Istanbul, Federer became the seventh active player to hit 200 wins on clay.
•    In January, Federer recorded his 1000th ATP match win in the Brisbane final (d. Raonic) before a shock 3R exit at the Australian Open (l. to Seppi).
•    In February, Federer claimed his second title of the season in Dubai (d. Djokovic).
•    In March, Federer advanced to the final of Indian Wells (l. to Djokovic).
•    In 2014, Federer finished in the Top 2 for the 10th time, winning five titles including two ATP Masters 1000 crowns. Aged 33, he was the oldest player to finish in the Top 2 of the Emirates ATP Rankings (since 1973), and was the first to finish in the Top 10 for 13 years in a row (2003-2015) since Lendl (1980-1992). He also won a first Davis Cup title for Switzerland.