The top half in Cincy has been ravaged with upsets and on Friday, Julien Benneteau upset Stan Wawrinka, 1-6 6-1 6-2.  It was a puzzling performance from Stan.  I thought (and to be honest, kind of hope) he was struggling with an injury.  He seemed to check out in the third set, meanwhile Benneteau played a very solid match.  There was one fantastic point in the second set where Benneteau made a great get from a Stan smash, although I don’t know how Stan didn’t close it out.  In the late night match, Roger Federer continued to display his impressive consistency as he defeated Andy Murray in straight sets, 6-3 7-5.

This week, I have been featuring photos from Cincy thanks to Omar Boraby, a photographer who is at the tourmament.  You can check out Omar’s official website HERE and follow him @PhotographyOmar on Twitter.  I’ll be posting more of his great photos on Twitter along with a selection of his best photos when Cincy concludes on Sunday.

1. Roger Federer v Milos Raonic (ATP Cincy, SF)

Photo by Omar Boraby

Roger Federer reached another semi-final with a victory over Andy Murray in the quarter-finals.  The Brit led 4-1 in the second set, but rather collapsed as Fed came back to win in straight sets.  I really didn’t expect Federer to have such a good week in Cincy.   In a repeat of their Wimbledon semi-final, Federer will take on Milos Raonic.  The world number 7 demolished Fabio Fognini, 6-1 6-0 in a beautiful result for tennis.  Elbandy commented on my post yesterday asking why I don’t like Fognini… I could write a 5,000 word essay, but I don’t think anyone would want to read it.  I think it’s obvious, but I just cannot stand his attitude and lack of respect to other players and umpires.  He’s a terrible example to any budding young tennis player and I don’t buy into the idea anymore of tuning into a Fognini match to see what he does next and enjoy the drama… he’s a fool.

I’ve digressed… Federer and Raonic have met on five occasions and Roger has won all five matches.  Raonic is enjoying his best year on tour and has already had a great summer hard court season, winning DC, his first ATP 500 title and reaching the semi-finals in Cincy.  Their semi-final at Wimbledon was incredibly predictable and dare I say, boring.  I saw some quotes from Milos about how he was very disappointed with his performance in that match.  I really do think he will step it up in this particular match, but I still envisage Federer progressing into another final…

Prediction: Federer d. Raonic in 3 sets

ATP Cincy Semi-Final Prediction

David Ferrer d. Julien Benneteau in 3 sets