This is the final three days of the Indian Wells tournament as the two Premier Event Semi Finals are played on the Friday as well as the two remaining Quarter Finals from the Masters tournament.
It has been a fun tournament as far as viewing has gone, but not a good one for my picks even if the season has been strong to this point. I will be hoping that there will be a bounce back in Miami next week, but there is no reason to go chasing after the losses, because that will always lead to more mistakes and further punishment.
If things go to plan tonight, it could be the first time the 'big four' of the men's game are competing in the Semi Final of the same tournament since the Australian Open in 2012... That is a staggering length of time considering all four have actually won Grand Slam titles in that period, but have not all put it together at the same time.
Both Tomas Berdych and Milos Raonic will be hoping to upset the apple-cart though and prove they are not far away from joining the Grand Slam winner club that is very exclusive amongst current players on the Tour.
Tomas Berdych + 3.5 games v Roger Federer: I still believe that Roger Federer will find a way to battle through to the Semi Final, but this could be too many games to give up to Tomas Berdych who has been playing well this week. The win over Lukas Rosol wasn't the most fluent performance that Berdych has produced, but he won't be intimidated by Roger Federer on the other side of the court and they have had a lot of tight matches in recent seasons to suggest this one will be close too.
The edge has to be given to Federer on the titles he has won at Indian Wells and the Swiss star has also chosen to skip Miami next week which means all of his thoughts are on another title here. He has played aggressively and been serving well and I think Federer will pose Berdych plenty of problems.
However, Berdych has also been serving very well for the most part this week and I expect him to put pressure on Federer whose own serve can have some sloppy moments these days.
My feeling is that this match goes three sets and Federer will then find a way to come through. However, their last four matches have been highly competitive and split with two wins apiece so I will take the games in this one rather than backing Federer to come through in three sets.
Rafael Nadal - 2.5 games v Milos Raonic: Rafael Nadal had a sloppy win over Donald Young earlier in the week, but looked a lot more like himself when seeing off Gilles Simon in the last Round and I expect him to beat Milos Raonic in a tight Quarter Final.
With the serve that Raonic possesses, it is never going to be an easy task to beat the Canadian on the hard courts, but Nadal is capable of getting enough balls in play to find mistakes in the Raonic game. As well as Milos Raonic played against Tommy Robredo, it is a completely different test against Nadal who has the forehand that can exploit what Raonic can do with his backhand.
Nadal will have to serve well if he is to keep Raonic at bay in this one, but this is a match up that should be right up the Spaniard's street in what he is going to see on the court. Of course no one really wants to face a huge server that can take away points very quickly, but I do think Nadal will make enough returns to force Raonic to play a lot of shots.
This one could be decided by a single break of serve from Nadal as he comes through 76, 64.
MY PICKS: Toms Berdych + 3.5 Games @ 1.83 Sporting Bet (2 Units)
Rafael Nadal - 2.5 Games @ 1.95 Bet Victor (2 Units)
Indian Wells Update: 17-20, - 9.30 Units (74 Units Staked, - 12.57% Yield)
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