Rome Masters 2015 semifinal: Wawrinka - Federer

[Denis]

Federer leads the h2h 15 -2

Stan won the two encounters on clay though and looks in better form than Federer.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Did you all see what Stan wrote on the Camera today after winning the match?

See you tomorrow RF.

 

[Denis]

Did you all see what Stan wrote on the Camera today after winning the match?

See you tomorrow RF.

No honerary mention for Mirka? :dodgy:

 

[DarthFed]

I'm guessing Stan in 3. Goes back to what I mentioned before about playing well when he has a chip on his shoulder. This one today didn't get dragged out to 3 so he shouldn't have any kind of hangover tomorrow. Might look like MC final last year where Roger looked ready to take the match but lost the 2nd and then lost an easy 3rd.

 

[crystalfire]

im gonna say stan in 3. havent seen anything spectacular from fed on clay this season

 

[DarthFed]

Granted I haven't seen Roger play here in Rome but going off scorelines he has been really good too. Either way I think this will be one that Stan wants badly after what went down last year. Whereas...just another semi for Roger.

 

[tented]

Granted I haven't seen Roger play here in Rome but going off scorelines he has been really good too. Either way I think this will be one that Stan wants badly after what went down last year. Whereas...just another semi for Roger.

Roger will be motivated as well. If anything, he'll want to demonstrate the WTF match wasn't a fluke -- that he can beat Stan again and again. Plus, this would be three consecutive wins for Fed, on three different surfaces (Wimbledon, WTF, Rome). That's a big deal, IMO. Not to mention Roger will want the opportunity to get to the final, and have another chance at finally winning Rome.

 

[nehmeth]

Granted I haven't seen Roger play here in Rome but going off score lines he has been really good too. Either way I think this will be one that Stan wants badly after what went down last year. Whereas...just another semi for Roger.

Roger's been playing some beautiful tennis. I would really like to see him (and Novak) make it to the final. He has the ability to change the pace and spin of his shots to make it difficult for Stan to find his rhythm. We'll see how well he executes.

Think I'm picking Fed in 2.

 

[DarthFed]

Granted I haven't seen Roger play here in Rome but going off scorelines he has been really good too. Either way I think this will be one that Stan wants badly after what went down last year. Whereas...just another semi for Roger.

Roger will be motivated as well. If anything, he'll want to demonstrate the WTF match wasn't a fluke -- that he can beat Stan again and again. Plus, this would be three consecutive wins for Fed, on three different surfaces (Wimbledon, WTF, Rome). That's a big deal, IMO. Not to mention Roger will want the opportunity to get to the final, and have another chance at finally winning Rome.

It's true and I don't mean to make it look like it's meaningless to Roger but I do think Stan may want/need this one more. Hope I'm wrong on that account. And I don't think anyone's ever thought Roger beating Stan is a fluke under any circumstances.

 

[lacatch]

I think Roger will be especially motivated because he'll want a crack at Nole in the final (although not as much as he wanted to meet Rafa in the semis, where I think Roger thought he finally had a decent chance). Deep down, despite their apparent rapprochement, I think that Roger really resents Nole's success and still considers him an upstart usurping the spoils lol.

 

[Federberg]

Granted I haven't seen Roger play here in Rome but going off scorelines he has been really good too. Either way I think this will be one that Stan wants badly after what went down last year. Whereas...just another semi for Roger.

Roger will be motivated as well. If anything, he'll want to demonstrate the WTF match wasn't a fluke -- that he can beat Stan again and again. Plus, this would be three consecutive wins for Fed, on three different surfaces (Wimbledon, WTF, Rome). That's a big deal, IMO. Not to mention Roger will want the opportunity to get to the final, and have another chance at finally winning Rome.

It's true and I don't mean to make it look like it's meaningless to Roger but I do think Stan may want/need this one more. Hope I'm wrong on that account. And I don't think anyone's ever thought Roger beating Stan is a fluke under any circumstances.

Lol! DF you keep framing Roger's motivations based on your wants. Roger has never won Rome. He wants it just as badly as anyone left in the draw. It would be a serious mistake to think otherwise

 

[herios]

I was reading on the ATP site a comment where a fan mentioned what Stan said after the match today:
"I never peak always... But when I peak, it will be against the Big 4"!!


Based on this, I am thinking Stan will be extra motivated to demonstrate that he can beat the Big 4 in succession. Now, it is another matter if he can do it.
Rome has been a good event for Stan even in the past, so I think he may pull this one off too. Going with Stan in 3.

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

Stan has issues with maintaining focus sometimes and it might be especially true tomorrow after a big win like today's. And Roger knows how to take time away from him and prevent him from swinging freely. Or Stan carries the confidence from today and kills Roger.
I think Roger in straight sets. He wants a crack at David :snicker...and finally win Rome.

 

[Moxie]

Roger will be motivated as well. If anything, he'll want to demonstrate the WTF match wasn't a fluke -- that he can beat Stan again and again. Plus, this would be three consecutive wins for Fed, on three different surfaces (Wimbledon, WTF, Rome). That's a big deal, IMO. Not to mention Roger will want the opportunity to get to the final, and have another chance at finally winning Rome.

It's true and I don't mean to make it look like it's meaningless to Roger but I do think Stan may want/need this one more. Hope I'm wrong on that account. And I don't think anyone's ever thought Roger beating Stan is a fluke under any circumstances.

Lol! DF you keep framing Roger's motivations based on your wants. Roger has never won Rome. He wants it just as badly as anyone left in the draw. It would be a serious mistake to think otherwise

Of course Roger wants it. He has so few boxes left to check, and Rome is one, but the main reason is that he's a great competitor and always fancies his chances. And he is playing some very fine tennis. I went with Stan in three, mostly based on you root for the guy who beat your guy. But anyway, so much for those who thought Roger should skip the clay season. He will be feeling very good about his tennis right about now, win or lose tomorrow or Sunday, I'd say.

 

[DarthFed]

Roger will be motivated as well. If anything, he'll want to demonstrate the WTF match wasn't a fluke -- that he can beat Stan again and again. Plus, this would be three consecutive wins for Fed, on three different surfaces (Wimbledon, WTF, Rome). That's a big deal, IMO. Not to mention Roger will want the opportunity to get to the final, and have another chance at finally winning Rome.

It's true and I don't mean to make it look like it's meaningless to Roger but I do think Stan may want/need this one more. Hope I'm wrong on that account. And I don't think anyone's ever thought Roger beating Stan is a fluke under any circumstances.

Lol! DF you keep framing Roger's motivations based on your wants. Roger has never won Rome. He wants it just as badly as anyone left in the draw. It would be a serious mistake to think otherwise

I think people overrate how much the top players want to win an MS event that is missing from their trophy case. Roger hasn't won Monte Carlo either and he's even skipped that event a few years. I guess what I'm saying is Roger ain't losing sleep over Rome or Monte Carlo unlike a certain world #1 who is probably already thinking day and night about finally winning RG. Now with that said if he had a choice of MS events to win itd be MC and Rome, I'm not blind to that. I was wrong in saying "just another semi" for that reason.

 

[DarthFed]

It's true and I don't mean to make it look like it's meaningless to Roger but I do think Stan may want/need this one more. Hope I'm wrong on that account. And I don't think anyone's ever thought Roger beating Stan is a fluke under any circumstances.

Lol! DF you keep framing Roger's motivations based on your wants. Roger has never won Rome. He wants it just as badly as anyone left in the draw. It would be a serious mistake to think otherwise

Of course Roger wants it. He has so few boxes left to check, and Rome is one, but the main reason is that he's a great competitor and always fancies his chances. And he is playing some very fine tennis. I went with Stan in three, mostly based on you root for the guy who beat your guy. But anyway, so much for those who thought Roger should skip the clay season. He will be feeling very good about his tennis right about now, win or lose tomorrow or Sunday, I'd say.

Well said though I don't see Rome as a "box to check". There are 4 obvious boxes and then YEC and a gold medal are well behind those. And I rarely root for the guy who beats my guy, I often find a good reason to hate those who beat Roger at least for the remainder of the tourney

 

[Kirijax]

I'll just leave this here... :blush:

 

[Moxie]

Lol! DF you keep framing Roger's motivations based on your wants. Roger has never won Rome. He wants it just as badly as anyone left in the draw. It would be a serious mistake to think otherwise

Of course Roger wants it. He has so few boxes left to check, and Rome is one, but the main reason is that he's a great competitor and always fancies his chances. And he is playing some very fine tennis. I went with Stan in three, mostly based on you root for the guy who beat your guy. But anyway, so much for those who thought Roger should skip the clay season. He will be feeling very good about his tennis right about now, win or lose tomorrow or Sunday, I'd say.

Well said though I don't see Rome as a "box to check". There are 4 obvious boxes and then YEC and a gold medal are well behind those. And I rarely root for the guy who beats my guy, I often find a good reason to hate those who beat Roger at least for the remainder of the tourney

I know, for you it's all about the Majors. For Roger, who knows?

 

[DarthFed]

Well as I mentioned Roger has skipped Monte Carlo a few times even though he hasn't won there. There was talk he might skip Rome if he had gotten deep in Madrid. That said he's in the semis and has to be hungry to keep it up. He is probably just happy to be playing well this week because he hasnt looked good on clay until this week.

 

[Mile]

Wawec in 3. Despite wanting to see Djoker-Fed finals. I hope it can happen.