US Open Men’s Semis: The final four

The champions are set for the final stretch before competing for the ultimate prize, as four men take the center stage tonight in the semifinals at Flushing Meadows. So have you picked your two to go through?

Novak Djokovic vs Marin Cilic

The least talked about defending champion has to be Cilic, having quivered the roots of tennis last year, after muscling his way to the title, Cilic has entered the semis again, swiftly. While the spotlight has been on the big guns, the Croat has stepped up his game towards the business end of the tournament, following which has been an average season for him so far.

Cilic powered Federer apart last year, thanks to some huge serves and groundstrokes, but that’s how upsets are, people still won’t put their money on Cilic. Up against him is the Best Player in the world right now, Novak Djokovic and the H2H- well, Marin needs to put that out of his head – 13-0 to the Serb.

Djokovic is far too consistent for Cilic, has more variety and moves better than the towering defending champion. Apart from the serves, there is no aspect of the game where Cilic holds an edge. The Serb has shown signs of sloppiness and it’s the high time that he shifts his gear to see off Cilic in probably straight sets again.

There won’t be any fairytale this time around.

Roger Federer vs Stanislas Wawrinka

Arthur Ashe will witness another chapter in the on-court rivalry of these two great friends.

Roger Federer has flown his way past his first five opponents just like he normally does, but he has ultimately failed to hypnotize the likes of Djokovic. On Friday, he’d face the man who had knocked him out of a Slam this year, his compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka.

Though, unlike at the crushed bricks of Paris, Stanimal won’t have much time to load his arsenal of powerful shots, and Federer on his second most favorite court will move much better than he did in Paris and his serves too will be a more vital factor on the fast paced NYC courts.

Federer has a lot more variety, too many shots to dismantle Stan at Arthur Ashe, unless Wawrinka manages to overpower everything that the elder Swiss comes up with, it’s certainly going to be a tough road to his first USO final. It’ll be a close one, but the second seed looks the heavy favorite.