The line up for the finals in the singles draws in the Australian Open will be complete on Friday when the second men’s semi-final will be played in the Rod Laver Arena. Thursday was a day for tennis veterans with the Williams sisters securing their spot in the women’s final while Roger Federer will be awaiting the winner of Friday’s semi. The women’s doubles title will also be decided on Friday.
Roger Federer will face either Rafael Nadal or Grigor Dimitrov in Sunday’s men’s final. They will meet in the night session on Friday in the only singles match of the day.
Rafael Nadal
There have been many throwbacks to the past in this tournament and leading the way in that regard has been Rafael Nadal. He hasn’t made it through to this semi-final without a few scares along the way but the game is so strong these days that you would expect that and I’m sure he would be no different. The important thing is he has come through them.
Nadal had to come through a five setter against Alexander Zverev while Gael Monfils took him to four sets but Nadal was at his best in seeing off Milos Raonic in the quarter final and a repeat of that would make him very hard to beat here. His defence in that win over Raonic really caught the eye and was a signal of his old form.
Grigor Dimitrov
Grigor Dimitrov won the warm up tournament in Brisbane in the lead up to this event and he has shown the confidence he has taken from that throughout this week. If you wanted to do him an injustice you would say he hasn’t really beaten anyone in this run yet due to Novak Djokovic’s early demise but you can only beat what is in front of you.
The Bulgarian has only dropped two sets in this tournament so far and looks to be on top of his game which given the talent he has always had is good to see given the struggles he has been enduring for a while now. This represents his toughest test in the tournament so far but there is nothing to suggest he hasn’t got what it takes to win.
Head to Head
These two meet for the ninth time with Nadal holding a 7-1 winning record but Dimitrov did win the last meeting between the two in Shanghai last year. Only two of the seven matches Nadal has won have been in straight sets and they were both on his beloved clay.
Betting
All the pressure is on Rafael Nadal in this semi-final and it cranked up once Roger Federer saw off Stan Wawrinka because everybody wants to see the dream final from the ages. I’m not completely convinced Rafa’s game needs that but at the same time who would want to write him off after the form of the quarter final? Not me.
I look at the record of the battles between these two and the fact Nadal has never beaten Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets on a hard court could be significant. I certainly don’t see Dimitrov winning this in straight sets himself so I’m expecting four if not five sets in this one. If one of those sets are lengthy, which given their form it may well be, then the over 38.5 games would look a certainty in a four set match. In a five set match it is certain so I like the over on that line.
Tips
WON – Back Over 38.5 games for a 4/10 stake at 1.87 with BetVictor
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