PARIS (Reuters):
ROGER FEDERER and Rafael Nadal are one win away from another French Open showdown with neither Nikolay Davydenko nor Novak Djokovic looking strong enough to ruin their plans to battle it out for the Musketeers' Cup.
Solid Russian Davydenko, who will challenge world number one Federer, and exciting Serbian newcomer Djokovic, facing claycourt king Nadal, perfectly realise they are not the favourites for today's men's semi-finals.
Federer, chasing the only grand slam title to elude him so far, and Nadal, bidding to become the first man to win three successive titles here since Bjorn Borg in 1980, have outclassed all the players standing in their way to the last four.
The elegant 25-year-old Swiss has dropped just one set so far while the 21-year-old Spaniard with the bulging biceps has not conceded any.
Trouble to win
Davydenko, seeded fourth, has always lost to Federer in eight previous meetings, but sees no reason why he would not stage a major upset.
"We've played many times and I've often had chances to win," the Russian said. "He often has trouble against me."
The 20-year-old Djokovic has beaten Nadal once this year, in the quarter-finals in Miami, but that was on a hardcourt. The Serbian lost the three other times he met the Spaniard and was crushed both times they met on clay.
The last time Djokovic and Nadal met at Roland Garros, in the quarter-finals last year, the Serb was trailing 6-4, 6-4 when he retired with back pain and said afterwards he felt he could have won had he not been injured.
Djokovic was more cautious on Wednesday when asked to rate his chances against a player with a 100 per cent record on the Paris clay who had won 81 consecutive matches on his favourite surface when Federer beat him in the Hamburg final last month.
"He's the best player in the world on this surface, everybody knows that," Djokovic said of Nadal. "He plays with a lot of motivation and confidence and, physically, he's probably the best-prepared player on the tour."
Federer, who wants revenge after losing to Nadal in last year's final here, did not seem worried before meeting Davydenko, but did say the Russian had made progress.
"He's really improved over the years," Federer said of the 26-year-old. "He's more consistent from the baseline and his serve has improved a lot. He's very tough to play against."
Nadal also politely said that he respected Djokovic, calling him a "very good player" and saying he expected "a difficult match".
However, if Nadal reproduces the form he displayed to brush aside former champion Carlos Moya in the semi-finals, Djokovic hardly stands of chance of stopping the world number two from advancing to Sunday's final.
