Scheduled for 2:oo PM EST (7:oo PM GMT)
Querrey of course has a huge serve and powerful groundstrokes going for him and his stats were impressive against Spadea in the quarters (10 aces, 75% of service points won, not a single BP faced). But Nishikori is clearly in good form himself having qualified for this event, and won 6 matches in total for the loss of only one set which was in a tiebreak. Over that period of time he has only dropped serve twice, an extremely impressive feat considering he is still relatively small in size and his serve is not the biggest. This tells me he possesses a good deal of mental consistency that is usually rare in such an inexperienced player.
He is extremely quick and a great retriever, and will hold the advantage over Querrey in that he is the smarter match-player. Nishikori will keep bringing balls back until Querrey either makes an error or produces a great shot. Chances are he will make the error more often than he will successfully hit the special shot. Both these youngsters are gunning for a 1st ATP final, so motivation for both is not in question, however the value is definitely with the Japanese player in this one.
Nishikori to beat Querrey @ 3.25 (4 units to win 9 units) WIN
Result: Nishikori def. Querrey 4-6 6-2 7-6(7), 4 match points saved.
James Blake (USA) vs Robby Ginepri (USA)
All-American encounters are usually unpredictable affairs, as seen already this week with some very up and down matches between Ginepri and Russell, Ginepri and Fish or Delic and Young. Blake is rightfully favourite and the 5-2 head-to-head record in his favour shows he has the upper hand, but at odds of 1.30 there really is no value and Ginepri may have the extra motivation after the torrid time he has had of late (he is now ranked 169!). Neither of these two are the most astute of tacticians on-court and this is definitely one I will gladly swerve.
