The round robin portion of the 2012 ATP World Tour Finals has concluded and the semifinal matches in London for men's singles will feature Novak Djokovic against Juan Martin del Potro and Roger Federer against Andy Murray. Djokovic is into the semifinals as the only undefeated player remaining in the tournament while del Potro, Federer and Murray each enter the semis with records of 2-1.
Del Potro and Djokovic will face in the first singles match to be played on Sunday with a starting time of not before 2:15pm (all times London). It will be the ninth head-to-head meeting between the two players and Djokovic holds a 6-2 winning record against the Argentine. Del Potro claimed a victory over the Serb at the Olympics but since that match Djokovic has claimed back-to-back wins over the current World No. 7. Both of those wins were hard court victories and neither match was competitive.
The winner between del Potro and Djokovic will play the winner between Federer and Murray. Their match is scheduled to take place not before 7:45pm on Sunday and Murray enters the match with a two-match winning streak against the Swiss Maestro. Murray defeated Federer in straight sets at the Olympics earlier this season and the Scot followed that up with a straight sets win in Shanghai not long ago. Overall Murray is 10-8 against Federer and should have a lot of confidence heading into the semifinal having beaten Fed in five straight sets and compiling a 30-15 record for games won to lost during that time.
Each player remaining in the draw is a deadly hard courter that has won the US Open before. But Federer is by far the most accomplished player at the season ending event of the ones remaining this year. He has won the tournament no less than six times while Djokovic has one title from the season ending event from 2008 (then the Tennis Masters Cup). Murray has not yet even made a final at the World Tour Finals while del Potro had a strong showing in 2009 when he lost in the final to Nikolay Davydenko.
When one looks at the ages of the players still alive in the draw you see a couple of 25 year olds in Murray and Djokovic along with a 24 year old in del Potro. Federer, like he's been for most of his career, is the anamoly as he is currently 31 years old. If he can win back-to-back matches to close out the 2012 season against a trio of dynamite hard courts still in their tennis prime, then the Swiss Maestro will have silenced his critics once again.
But I think his betting odds of 17/5 (+340; Boylesports) are far too short. Federer should probably be considered more of an 8/1 (+800) underdog while del Potro's odds, which are +900 (9/1; bet365) should be considered too long. Murray (5/2; Boylesports) and Djokovic (6/5; bet365) remain the top two betting favorites to win the 2012 ATP World Tour Finals with many expecting a final showdown between the two.