Tennis Picks – Madrid – Federer’s Friday

Serena Williams – Maria Sharapova
The blue clay has had some big casualties, most notably Rafael Nadal yesterday, but Serena has declared she doesn’t fell much difference to the normal clay, “apart from you don’t get as dirty”.

If that’s how she feels why not take her on against Sharapova? They have met 9 times before, with Serena winning 7, among them the last 6 on the trot and their only previous meeting on clay.

Tomas Berdych – Fernando Verdasco
Just because you have a poor record against someone, you are actually able to win from time to time. Verdasco proved that yesterday by beating Nadal for the first time, but I still think he’s up against a too tough opponent today.

A lot of players have critised the blue clay, but Berdych hasn’t had any problems, he’s stormed into the quarterfinals and holds a 9-4 advantage over Verdasco, winning the last 3 meetings.

They are 2-2 on clay courts, but Verdasco hasn’t even been able to take a set off Berdych in their last 3 meetings.

Roger Federer – David Ferrer
There’s not much science to this bet; they have met 13 times before, with Federer winning every single one and on 4 different surfaces so why not on blue clay as well?