1. Rafael Nadal v Stanislas Wawrinka (Group A)
 |
| Stanislas Wawrinka |
The two winners from the first matches in Group A, Rafael Nadal and Stanislas Wawrinka will square off in Wednesday afternoon's match at the O2. Wawrinka won his first ever match at the ATP World Tour Finals with a competent 6-3 6-7(0) 6-3 victory over Tomas Berdych. For full details of my take on that match you can read my report HERE. Nadal too was solid, but got a lot of help from an error strewn performance by David Ferrer as he charged forward in his hopes of securing the world number 1 spot for the year with a 6-3 6-2 victory.
Unfortunately the head-to-head between Stan and Rafa is severely in favour of Nadal, who has won all 11 of their matches and has never dropped a set. Their last match in Shanghai saw a lengthy first set tiebreak where Stan had his chances, but was unable to claim a first ever set over Rafa. Based on the head-to-head, it is hard to give Stan much hope of changing things around in this one.
Prediction - Nadal to beat Wawrinka in 2 tight sets
2. David Ferrer v Tomas Berdych (Group A)
I was very disappointed with both David Ferrer and Tomas Berdych in their first round matches and it certainly appears that long seasons are catching up with both. This is a must-win match for both players and will see another rematch from Paris as the pair played in the quarter-finals where Ferrer recovered from losing the first set to prevail, 4-6 7-5 6-3. Ferrer committed a staggering amount of unforced errors in his match with Nadal, in fact he hit over twice as many unforced errors (33) compared to winners (16). Berdych disappointed me against Wawrinka because I thought for him, he was quite passive and unwilling to take chances. Based on this afternoon's match, I think Ferrer is pooped and it's tough to see him in just over a day, turning that around and producing a winning performance here.
Prediction - Berdych to beat Ferrer in 3 sets
Nadal in 2 tight sets-that was a perfect prediction if I ever saw one lol
ReplyDelete