Tomas Berdych and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga are both going for a place in the final of the ATP World Tour Finals for the first time in their careers.
Neither Berdych or Tsonga have ever made it to the knockout stages of the ATP World Tour Finals before so both are going into unchartered territory. However both men have competed in Grand Slam finals and know what it takes to succeed on the big occasions.
Tsonga produced one of his finest performances of the year to take out Rafael Nadal 7-6(2), 4-6, 6-3 on Thursday to book his place in the last four. Tsonga's adventurous approach has paid dividends all week but it'll be interesting to see how he varies his strategy today against another one of the power players of men's tennis.
The final semi-final place was right up for grabs until late on Friday evening when Berdych produced a stirring comeback to see off the previously unbeaten David Ferrer. A straight sets defeat would have sent the Czech home but that appeared to be his fate for a set and a half as Ferrer frustrated him with his variety, movement and sheer persistence. However Berdych finally broke through with his sledgehammer groundstrokes and ran away with it in the end to win 3-6, 7-5, 6-1.
It's going to be a very different match today as both men are capable of serving close to 140mph and hammering the ball through the court. They met on a slightly slower surface at the China Open last month and Berdych edged it 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.
However our prediction is for Tsonga to get his revenge in an intriguing three setter.
