French Open Betting / Editor / 07 June 2007 /

The Young Guns will be the centre of attention on Court Philippe Chatrier at Roland Garros on Friday, as the men's singles goes down to the last four at the French Open.

The 20-year-old sixth seed Novak Djokovic takes on 21-year-old Rafael Nadal in the match they all want to see.

Nadal aims to lock out the Serbian and move just one win away from matching Bjorn Borg's hat-trick of titles at the French Open, some 30 years ago.

The Majorcan matador outplayed his old practice partner Carlos Moya, the 1998 champion, 6-4 6-3 6-0 to reach the last four without dropping a set - the only one of the four semi-finalists with an unblemished record at Roland Garros this year. It was his 19th straight win in Paris - plain and simple, he has never lost there.

He and Djokovic have met four times in the last two years and the Spaniard leads 3-1, including their two contests on clay.

All four matches have been settled in straight sets with Djokovic's only win coming at the Miami Open quarter-finals, when he avenged his final defeat in Indian Wells. In fact, their three meetings this year have all been in the Masters series with Nadal winning in Rome as well.

Their first encounter was at last year's French Open when Djokovic retired with a back injury while trailing 6-4 6-4, in what would have been their only meeting in a possible five-setter.

Djokovic is the more powerful strokemaker, having served 207 aces this year to Nadal's 114, but Nadal is the ultimate counter-puncher. Suggestions that he is vulnerable after Roger Federer brought his record 81-match clay court winning streak to an end in the Hamburg final, have been quickly dismissed by the Spanish ace.

His relentless form in Paris makes him the 1.11 favourite for the semi-final, despite Djokovic also brushing aside unseeded Igor Andreev of Russian in straight sets in his quarter-final.

After beating Moya, fellow Majorcan Nadal said: "I am playing better than last year even though I lost in Hamburg." Another concern for Djokovic, who is trading at 10 to reach the final.
As for Federer, he is still pursuing his first French Open title - the only major to elude him. He lost to two-time champion Nadal in last year's final, despite roaring through the first set.

But there is no denying he is finding his feet on clay, even if his record-equalling run of not dropping a set in a Major for 11 matches ended with the one that slipped away in his four-set quarter-final win over Tommy Robredo. So the Swiss ace has to share his 2007 run with John McEnroe's 1984 record.

Federer goes into the semi-final against fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko with a huge advantage. He went in against another Russian, Mikhail Youzhny, in the last 16 with a 9-0 advantage, while against Robredo he went in with a 7-0 lead. Now he faces Davydenko with an 8-0 head-to-head record.

In those eight matches, Davydenko has claimed just four sets. It is only their second meeting on clay but their third in a Grand Slam after Federer beat him in the semi-finals at the 2006 US Open and in the quarter-finals at the 2006 Australian Open. Those were the last two occasions they have met.

It's a tall order for Davydenko, who was 26 last Saturday. The Ukraine-born Russian, who crushed Guillermo Canas in straight sets in the quarter-finals, he is long odds to stop Federer.
Davydenko can be backed at 6.8 to cause an upset and reach his first Grand Slam final, while Federer is available at 1.17. A 3-0 Federer win is on offer at 2.12.

It all points to a Federer-Nadal repeat in the final on Sunday and that would be a match to savour. Betfair punters still see Nadal as the likely champion, with the Spaniard on offer at 1.63 and Federer trading at 2.96 to win his first Roland Garros title.

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