Roger Federer is into the third round of the 2012 Shanghai Masters following a win over Yen-Hsun Lu in the second round of the 1000 series event on Wednesday (6-3, 7-5). It was Federer's first win on the hard court surface since Flushing Meadows although the Swiss Maestro did post two Davis Cup wins for Switzerland on the clay court surface in September. Next up for Federer is a match on Thursday against fellow Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka.

Wawrinka, seeded 13th in the Shanghai Masters, is into the third round through Albert Ramos and Denis Istomin. The World No. 17 has been playing better lately on tour and in his last four events only the very best players have been able to eliminate him from draws. Those players have included Federer, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray but Wawrinka has recent wins over David Ferrer, Kei Nishikori, Alexandr Dolgopolov, and Milos Raonic, wins that have helped the Swiss No. 2 get back into the top twenty in the ATP's overall rankings.

Federer and Wawrinka know one another's game quite well. As they are both Swiss nationals, they have competed as teammates in many international events, most notably at the 2008 Beijing Olympics where they won gold in men's doubles. On head-to-heads they have met twelve times and Federer has rarely had much trouble against Wawrinka. Overall the Swiss Maestro is 11-1 against his countryman and Davis Cup teammate. Wawrinka's sole win in that series came on clay at the Monaco Masters in 2009, an event that Federer has often played poorly at (if he's playing in it at all).

Wawrinka appeared to be playing his best tennis in late 2010 and early 2011 but he was still unable to defeat Federer in the matches they had at those times with Fed winning at both ATP Stockholm and at Melbourne Park. Most will surely be calling for a Federer victory (bet365 1/16) when they meet in the later match on Thursday (not before 8pm CST) however bettors out there might want to have some faith in Wawrinka. He appears to be reaching his best tennis once again and a +5.5 game handicap with Boylesports looks like a good line to take at 4/6.