Nadal, Djokovic battle for No.2

Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic will battle for No. 2 Ranking in the semi finals of the Hamurg Masters on Saturday.

Djokovic, who has been No. 3 since July 9, 2007, leads the ATP Race with three titles and will appear in his sixth semifinal in eight tournaments this year. Djokovic captured his maiden Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January and has also won two ATP Masters Series at Indian Wells and Rome. 

Second seed Nadal has a 9-3 tournament record and leads the ATP circuit in 2008 with a 35-7 mark.

This year the Spaniard has won two clay-court titles at ATP Masters Series Monte Carlo (d. Federer) and Barcelona (d. Ferrer). He has also finished runner-up at Chennai and ATP Masters Series Miami.

Nadal has a 6-3 career advantage and has won all three of their clay-court meetings (2006-Roland Garros; 2007-ATP Masters Series Rome; 2007-Roland Garros), but Djokovic did win their most recent clash in the semifinals of ATP Masters Series Indian Wells in March.

SATURDAY PREVIEW-- TOP 3 SEEDS ADVANCE TO SEMIFINALS IN HAMBURG FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 1992

• The Top 3 players in the South African Airways ATP Rankings are in the semifinals for the fourth time this season, including the third in an ATP Masters Series. This is the first time since the ATP Rankings began in 1973 that the Top 3 ranked players are in the semifinals in Hamburg. World No. 1 and four-time Hamburg champion Roger Federer takes on unseeded Italian Andreas Seppi in the first semifinal and No. 2/last year's finalist Rafael Nadal meets No. 3 Novak Djokovic in the other semifinal. The last time the Top 3 seeds advanced to the semifinals in Hamburg was in 1992 with No. 1 Stefan Edberg, No. 2 Boris Becker and No. 3 Michael Stich (they were ranked No. 2, 4 and 5 at the time). Here are Saturday's match-ups:

No. 1 Roger Federer vs. Andreas Seppi Federer leads 1-0
No. 2 Rafael Nadal vs. No. 3 Novak Djokovic Nadal leads 6-3 (3-0 on clay)

• Big 3 in Semifinals- Federer, Nadal and Djokovic are playing in the semifinals together for the fourth time this season (the third in an ATP Masters Series) and seventh overall since last June at Roland Garros. Djokovic has won three of the last four titles when they have reached the semifinals together. Last year, the trio led the ATP circuit in titles – Federer (8), Nadal (6) and Djokovic (5).
• No. 2 on the Line- The winner of Saturday's semifinal between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic will be No. 2 in next week's South African Airways ATP Rankings and the No. 2 seed going into Roland Garros. The 20-year-old Serb moved to within 310 points of Nadal in the South African Airways ATP Rankings after winning in Rome last Sunday.

Nadal will drop his '07 Hamburg runner-up points (350) and Djokovic will lose his quarterfinal points (125) from last year's Hamburg. Nadal has ranked No. 2 a record 147 consecutive weeks since July 25, 2005. Djokovic has been No. 3 every week since July 9, 2007. The last player to rank No. 2 before Nadal was Lleyton Hewitt on July 18, 2005.

• Italian Semifinalist-- Seppi, who survived a three hour and 13 minute marathon victory over Nicolas Kiefer in the quarterfinals, is the first Italian to advance to the semifinals or better since 1977 when Paolo Bertolucci captured the title (d. Manuel Orantes). The last Italian to reach an ATP Masters Series semifinal was Filippo Volandri in Rome last year. An Italian has never reached a Masters Series final (since 1990).
• 2008 ATP Match Wins Leaders-- Three of the top five match wins leaders in 2008 are in the semifinals:
  W-L Titles
  1) Rafael Nadal 35-7 2
  2) Nikolay Davydenko 29-9 1
  3) Novak Djokovic 28-5 3
  4) Nicolas Almagro 27-9 2
  5) Roger Federer 25-6 1
  James Blake 25-10 0
• 2007-08 ATP Masters Series Finals-- With the winner of Saturday's semifinal between Nadal-Djokovic reaching the final, it will mark the 14th straight ATP Masters Series tournament that one of the Big 3 will have reached the title match (winning 10 times):

Nadal vs Djokovic Head-to-Head

Novak Djokovic (SRB) vs (2) Rafael Nadal (ESP)

Nadal Leads 6-3 (3-0 on clay)

06 Roland Garros (France) Clay QF Rafael Nadal 6-4, 6-4 ret (back)
07 ATP Masters Series Indian Wells (US) Hard F Rafael Nadal 6-2, 7-5
07 ATP Masters Series Miami (US) Hard QF Novak Djokovic 6-3, 6-4
07 ATP Masters Series Rome (Italy) Clay QF Rafael Nadal 6-2, 6-3
07 Roland Garros (France) Clay SF Rafael Nadal 7-5, 6-4, 6-2
07 Wimbledon (Great Britain) Grass SF Rafael Nadal 3-6, 6-1, 4-1 ret (toe blister)
07 ATP Masters Series Montreal (Canada) Hard SF Novak Djokovic 7-5, 6-3
07 Tennis Masters Cup (China) Hard RR Rafael Nadal 6-4, 6-4
08 ATP Masters Series Indian Wells (US) Hard SF Novak Djokovic 6-3, 6-2

Courtesy: ATP