By Greg Stewart
Men’s Semi-finals:
Matteo Berrettini VS Rafael Nadal
The 25-year-old Italian player has accumulated 5 career wins with a 63% match winning percentage. He won his first ATP 500 level event at the 2021 Queen's Club Championships. He was a finalist in the 2021 Wimbledon Championships and has made the semi-finals of the 2019 US Open and 2022 Australian Open. He cruised past Pablo Carreno-Busta in the 4th round and Gael Monfils in the Quarters and now faces a tough challenge in World No5 Rafa Nadal
Rafael Nadal almost needs no introduction having been a professional for 21 years with 89 singles titles won and a very impressive 83% match win percentage, one can understand why he is always in contention even at the age of 35. He faced off against the power hitting Canadian Denis Shapovalov in the Quarters and almost looked beaten after the 4th set where he was battling with an injury, but came back after some treatment to take the deciding 5th set by 6-3 and secure another semi-final at the Australian Open.
Stefanos Tsitsipas VS Daniil Medvedev
The lively 23-year-old Stefanos Tsitsipas is ranked at No 4 in the world rankings with seven title wins to his career scorecard. He was a French Open Semi-finalist in 2020 and a finalist in 2021 where he lost to Novak Djokovic and has made the Semi-Finals of the Australian open three times, in 2019, 2021 and now again in 2022. He decimated Jannic Sinner in the Quarter finals and came back strong against Taylor Fritz in round 4 and may just be peaking at the right time in the tournament
Daniil Medvedev has been at the top of his game for the last year having won the US Open against World No1 Djokovic and was runner up to Djokovic in last year’s Australian Open and was a quarter finalist at the 2021 French Open. He is a persistently good player with the ability to turn a match around even if on the back foot. His world No2 rank is not a coincidence and this semi-final clash between him and the World No4 could well turn out to be the match of the tournament.
Betting Guide:
Two very tough calls for a winner in each Semi but ultimately I think form must win, and while injury worries cast doubt on Nadal I would still back him for a win and in the other Semi, after a bruising final in the quarters for Medvedev, I would back Tsitsipas for another upset and a win in the semis. Tsitsipas is at 2.9:1 for a win while you can get Nadal at 1.56:1 on SunBet
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