Rome Semifinals Preview

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Richard Gasquet makes his debut in the Rome semifinals and he had to clean a lot of red clay from his shoes to get here. Down a set and a break to Roger Federer in the round of 16, he closed out the match in two clutch tiebreaks, bringing the kind of tennis brilliance that was supposed to make him a champion years ago. But his mental and physical frailty has always been an issue. So when he fell behind a set to big-hitting Tomas Berdych in the quarterfinals, it was anybody's guess how he'd respond. But the man with the stellar one-hander dug in, stormed through the second set, and gutted out a hard-fought and well-played third. He seems hungrier than ever. His reward for such an appetite is a chance to beat Rafael Nadal for the first time. I've only seen the first two sets of Rafa's first-round affair with qualifier Paolo Lorenzi, so I can't say how his form has or hasn't improved since that second set. From the scorelines against Feliciano Lopez and Marin Cilic, it would seem he's back to his old self. But if the Spaniard's forehand is off and the Frenchman's is on, this could be a tight match. If Richie Red Shoes wants the victory, he'll have to take it in straight sets, though. Hungry or not, I can't imagine he can sustain another come from behind win against the Red Brick Wall.

Andy Murray also makes his debut in the final four in Rome, the first man from Great Britain in the Open Era to come this far. His quarterfinal against Florian Mayer featured junk and funk and a whole lot of petulance. The tricky German forced Murray to play more aggressively than he's comfortable with and had Mayer been more in shape, he may have offered more resistance in the final sets. As it was, Murray cruised after being blown off the court in the first. In a rematch of the Australian Open final, the Scot gets a chance to end the astonishing run of Novak Djokovic, the first semifinal they've contested at a big event in forever. After his loss to the Serb in the round of 16, Stanislas Wawrinka said that Djoke won't win this title because fatigue is setting in. While that may turn out to be prescient, the Unbeatable One isn't going to lose to Murray. I'll be surprised if it takes three sets.

For the women, we've got Maria Sharapova against Caroline Wozniacki and Li Na against Samantha Stosur. I've seen far too little of the WTA matches to say much about the outcome of these semifinals, but it would be nice to see Maria face Sam in the final. But since that's what I want, it's probably going to be the computer's world No. 1 against the Australian Open runner-up instead.