Hamburg: Rafael Nadal meets Novak Djokovic in the Hamburg Masters tennis tournament semi-finals on saturday where the winner earns the number two ranking in men's tennis.

Nadal kept second place at least on Friday night when he beat his 11th-seeded mentor Carlos Moya 6-1, 6-3 in a Spanish quarter-final. Djokovic also wasted little time to make the final four when he ousted Spain's Albert Montanes 6-2, 6-3.

Nadal has been the No 2 behind Swiss Roger Federer for a record 147 weeks since July 2005, but Djokovic has closed the gap this year with titles at the Australian Open, Indian Wells, and the Rome Masters last Sunday.

Djokovic would have been number two Friday night had Nadal lost, but Nadal was never endangered by Moya and needed one minute less than Djokovic (1:15 hours) to win.

Djokovic dropped serve in the opening game against the 78th-ranked Montanes, but rebounded swiftly. The Serb won the last four games of the first set and the final three of the second, wrapping up matters in 1:16 hours with a service winner.

Nadal leads their series 6-3 and has won all three matches between them on clay. Djokovic won their last match in April in the Indian Wells semis.

The other semi-final brings together world number one Roger Federer and unseeded Italian Andreas Seppi, who has never before gone that far at the Masters.

Federer remained on course towards a fifth Hamburg title with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Spain's Fernando Verdasco, and like Nadal and Djokovic is yet to drop a set.

Seppi beat German Nicolas Kiefer from 5-3 down in the final set, 6-3, 5-7, 7-5, in a 3:13 hour marathon.

In a meeting of unseeded players, Seppi led Kiefer 6-3, 5-2. But Kiefer won the next five games to level the sets and also dominated the third to lead 5-3. Kiefer then failed to serve out the match at 5-4 as Seppi roared back to win with four unanswered games.

 

 

Source : IANS