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  • Verdasco takes on Fish for spot in Pilot Pen final

    8/22/08 5:46 AM | Ricky Dimon
    - It's been a tournament full of surprises, but order is slowly being restored. The semifinal between No. 1 seed Fernando Verdasco and No. 8 seed Mardy Fish is not unexpected.

    Fernando Verdasco and Mardy Fish will meet for the second time in their careers when they battle in the New Haven semifinals on Friday. Fish defeated Verdasco 6-2, 6-2 on the grass courts of Halle back in 2004.

    While Verdasco has become a threat on all surfaces, he will be glad to play Fish on hard courts as opposed to grass, even though clay would be best. Plus Verdasco is a much different player now, and the Spaniard is up to a career-high ranking of No. 13 in the world, just shy of his career-high (11th). Among his 2008 highlights are a runner-up finish in Nottingham and a fourth-round appearance at Wimbledon, where he fell to Mario Ancic 13-11 in the fifth. This week he has taken out Dudi Sela, Ivo Minar, and Mischa Zverev, all in straight sets.

    Neither Fish's season nor his Pilot Pen campaign have been as smooth. The American started off the year in mediocre form before storming out of almost nowhere to reach the final of the Masters Series Indian Wells. There he upset Nikolay Davydenko and Roger Federer before Novak Djokovic ended Fish's run in the title match. Fish then endured a dismal summer slump, but he righted the ship with a semifinal showing in Los Angeles. After a first-round exit at last week's Legg Mason Classic, Fish has defeated Wayne Odesnik (three sets), Marc Gicquel, and Jesse Levine in New Haven.

    Not unlike his 2008 season, Fish is often an all-or-nothing player. He can be great at times and terrible at other times, and he will have to be consistently great on Friday if he wants any chance of upsetting Verdasco. That means he must put in a ton of first serves and win a lot of free points on serve because he can not hang with his opponent in an all-court battle. Look for Verdasco to reach his third ATP final of the year by winning in two close sets.

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