Shanghai Crisis Center: Day 7

Morning. As Pete mentioned in his post yesterday, he's away for the next few days, so I'm providing the last two Shanghai Crisis Centers. As always, please use this thread for discussing the tennis in Shanghai specifically, and other tennis-related matters of the day.

First up, at 9 a.m. GMT/4 a.m. EST - the only so-far-unbeaten competitor of the week, David Ferrer, plays Andy Roddick in the first of the two semifinals. Their current head-to-head is 2-2. They have met twice this year so far, with the first win going to Roddick in R16 in Key Biscayne, 7-5, 6-3, and the second going Ferrer's way, 7-6, 6-4, in R16 in Cincinnati. Those two meetings occurred, of course, in the days when Ferrer's ranking was low enough that they would meet at such a relatively early stage, before his run to the U.S. Open semifinal.

Not before 11.30 a.m. GMT/6.30 a.m. EST (that's 7.30 p.m. in Shanghai), comes the second semifinal. It's the first meeting between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal since Federer won his fifth straight Wimbledon final, and their fifth meeting of the year, though the first to occur on any kind of hard court. This year, their head-to-head so far is two each way - Nadal in Monte Carlo and at Roland Garros, and Federer in Hamburg and at Wimbledon. As most of us know, their overall head-to-head is currently 8-5 in Nadal's favour, but with six of those victories coming on clay, and two on outdoor hard courts. The last time they met on a hard court was at this exact stage last year in Shanghai - Federer won 6-4, 7-5.

As always, enjoy the day's tennis.

-- Rosangel