Rome 2013 SF: Federer v. Paire

[tented]

Who wins?

 

[rafanoy1992]

Federer in two! If Federer wins this match, he will go to his first final of the year!

 

[Moxie]

Of the two, I thought JJ would be the bigger challenge. Fed in two.

 

[I.Haychew]

Is it possible for a pear to be worse than a breadstick or a bagel? Regardless, I think that Paire will get peared...whatever THAT means. Federer in a blow-out.

 

[tented]

Federer in two! If Federer wins this match, he will go to his first final of the year!

In other words, Federer is going to his first final this year.

 

[Moxie]

Paire will go pear-shaped against Fed. And yes, Fed is in his first final of the year. I'm hoping for an old-fashioned Fedal one.

 

[rafanoy1992]

Paire will go pear-shaped against Fed. And yes, Fed is in his first final of the year. I'm hoping for an old-fashioned Fedal one.

Me too, Moxie!:blush:

It will be a battle between the "old" guys

Nadal is only 26 years old but in terms of mileage in the body he is 30 years old.

 

[DarthFed]

Fed has had a good week so far. His problem the last eight months hasn't been that he is always playing poor, just that he has been inconsistent and couldn't string together more than 2 or 3 good matches in a row. I don't think he will take a step back and lose to Paire now. He should win in 2.

 

[Iona16]

I'd be surprised if it's not Fed in 2.

 

[El Dude]

6-4, 6-3 Federer

 

[brokenshoelace]

Federer in 2.

 

[tented]

Who wins?

:dodgy: Really? A question??

Fed in 2

Given that these polls are needed in order to link them to the homepage, yes, a question.

 

[herios]

Roger will savour the last bites of his sweet tiramisu which fell into his lap here in Rome. Paire will try to steal some cream as well, but I doubt Roger will be very generous. He will say 'You had your own share"

 

[britbox]

Federer has Nadal to look forward too unless Paire pulls off the upset.

 

[DarthFed]

Federer has Nadal to look forward too unless Paire pulls off the upset.

The prospect of making the H2H even more pathetic in what figures to be an easy final for Rafa is not exactly pleasant. That said, if he doesn't get by Paire then he hasn't made any steps forward this week IMO. Making the final here makes it at least a decent tournament, his first decent one since Cincy last year.

 

[JesuslookslikeBorg]

Federer broke a world record for weeks at no1 rank at shanghai..thats decent,

and he reached the final of WTF which is also decent.

 

[Front242]

It won't be as easy a final as today's match against Berdych was for him and Fed's playing well enough to bring it to 3 sets imo. At least it's points gained for Federer. Lost in a similarly dismal fashion here to Djokovic in the semis as he did in RG, overhitting balls by 10 miles and shanking like a pro butcher. Reaching a final is at least a major confidence boost and gaining points is valuable as he's lost tons this year. I'd rather Fed kept making finals even if he loses to Nadal and further dents the h2h. At this stage in his career, even reaching finals is a major achievement. Keeps his ranking high and there'll always be a day he plays better than whoever his opponent may be.

 

[tenisplayrla08]

I gotta tell y'all. Fed is doing great this week. Buuuuttt... he hasn't had to play a difficult player. And Paire is.... at worst the future. He could be making that future the present this very week. He is definitely coming into his own this week. Yeah, he's 24 so he's may not have time to really be great. Buuuutt... he could just be a late bloomer. Especially in this age guys are coming into their own later as Fed and Nadal get older (mostly Fed). Anyways, the point is, I could see Fed losing this match as well as Paire has played this week. DelPo is not a great clay player. Buuuuttt.... he's no push over on any surface. Anyways, I do expect Fed to pull it out because of experience, confidence and superior talent, even if Paire is extremely talented and 7 years younger and therefore more capable of executing at his highest talent level, which Fed clearly has struggled to do this year. Here's to Fed! If he wins, I will have picked the final pairing right... even if that's about all I picked right (I picked DelPo to lose to Fed in the semis).

 

[DarthFed]

He got beat badly by Murray in Shanghai semifinal and lost twice at YEC including a straight sets final. Considering Roger is still awesome indoors and YEC is one of his 3-4 strongest tournaments that is not a good result. Making the finals of Rome is good though especially with the struggles so far this year.

 

[brokenshoelace]

Federer would definitely prefer reaching the final, even with the risk of losing to Nadal. At this point, what's another loss against Nadal on clay? Not that it's a given mind you. But a loss to Paire on the other hand? That's bad.