Events / Ben Caudell / 17 April 2010 /

Novak Djokovic plays another member of the Spanish clay court Armada when he faces Fernando Verdasco in today's semi-final in Monte Carlo and Ben Caudell expects this one to go to form...

Novak Djokovic (SRB) v Fernando Verdasco (ESP)

Novak Djokovic, who described his quarter final win over David Nalbandian as one of the best matches he has played in 2010, joins three Spaniards in the semi-finals.

Not since 2003 at Hamburg have three players been representing the same country at this stage in a tournament. To combat the Spaniards, starting with Fernando Verdasco on Saturday, Djokovic believes the only way to win is to play his own game "I need to stay closer to the lines, I guess, and be aggressive, but still not too much, because then I can make a lot of unforced errors. I shouldn't force it too much" he said.

Fernando Verdasco, who eventually fended off Albert Montanes, another Spaniard in the quarter finals, squandered three match points at 5-1 in the second set. Montanes won the set in the tie break before running out of steam early in the final set and eventually succumbing 6-3, 6-7, 6-0.

Verdasco needs to become a lot more consistent in his matches to have any chance of taking a title. During his last two matches the double Davis Cup winner has at times played some magical tennis; however he has been unable to sustain this level of play throughout the match. At times Verdasco's shots tighten and unforced errors start to creep in when the games become a lot closer.

Against Djokovic, he can ill afford to lose concentration or the mental side of his game because the Serb will take full advantage of any anomaly in his opponent's armoury. The fact that Novak has a 5-2 record (2-1 on clay) over six seed Verdasco and has won their past five meetings signifies to me that Djokovic clearly has the upper hand ahead of this match.

Novak needs to reach the final once again so that he doesn't relinquish any ranking points because he made it last year, whereas Verdasco can only gain points from reaching the semi finals - in last year's event the Spaniard lost in the quarter finals to today's opponent in three sets.

I believe we will see a repeat of last year's performance with Novak outclassing Verdasco (in possibly three sets) to set himself up with the ultimate challenge, the final against Nadal......

Selection:

Back Novak Djokovic @ [1.45] to win match
Back Djokovic -3.5 Games @ [1.9]

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