TENNIS in DEPTH.

Group A.

Federer is not assured of his place in the semi-finals just yet, though, as he, Murray and del Potro could all tie with a 2-1 match record in Group A – should del Potro defeat Federer and Murray beat Verdasco. If there is a three-way tie then the first criteria to break the deadlock is sets won-lost. Coming into Thursday, Federer was 4-2 while del Potro and Murray were 3-3 in sets won-lost in the first two round robin matches.

 To guarantee his place in the semi-finals, Federer must avenge his US Open final defeat to del Potro, while Murray needs to beat Verdasco. Then Federer and Murray would qualify into the semi-finals. Verdasco also has a slight chance still to qualify for the semi-finals, but would need to defeat Murray in straight sets and hope that Federer dismisses del Potro in the same fashion.

Group B.

Robin Soderling is in control of Group B, and should he choose to he can determine who will qualify along with himself into the semi finals. If Davydenko wins their Friday match in straight sets, he would jump to the top of the group with a 5-2 edge over Soderling who would be at 4-2. The best Djokovic could do with a straight set win over Nadal would be to wind up at 4-3; he would not qualify. If Nadal wins, Djokovic is out.

The semi finals format pits the winners of each group gainst the runners-up of the opposite group. So if Federer wins group A, he would play the runner-up from Group B. In the above scenario that would be Soderling, while most likely Davydenko would play Murray. (Maybe Soderling will prefer to take his chances with Murray than Federer, and defeat Davydenko tomorrow and give Djokovic a chance to qualify).

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