Madrid Final: Federer vs. Berdych Preview and Prediction

It's been a week of very strange and unexpected upsets but Roger Federer finds himself in yet another Masters final at the end of it.

Here's the schedule.

Federer will take on Tomas Berdych who came through today against an in-form Juan Martin Del Potro. The Argentinian was playing fantastically well, especially in the first set where he found himself 5-3 up. But his first serve deserted him and Berdych - who was also playing very well - wormed his way back in and stole the set in a breaker. It was a very high quality and tightly contested second set which was taken by the Czech in another extremely close tiebreak. 

Federer on the other hand didn't have any major problems with Tipsarevic. It was very windy when the match started and Tipsarevic could not handle it as well as Federer could who stormed through the first set 6-2. Federer served fantastically well - and when his serve is on form, the rest of his game falls into place. He even returned fantastically well. He came through 6-3 in the second set. Tipsarevic could not pull out the performance that he did against Djokovic. Federer had the upper hand in almost all the rallies and Tipsarevic couldn't change the direction of the ball that well - something he is normally brilliant at.

I am anticipating a very high quality match as both guys seem to be playing with a lot of confidence. They both play with a lot of power and so I expect the rallies to be pretty short due to the restricted movement on this surface. It will be very difficult to neutralise rallies and so whoever gets the upper hand in the rally first will almost always win it. 

There's not really a lot to say about this match. Both men are aggressors and very strong behind their serve. They will defend their service games very well and so the set could come down to a tiebreak. Neither player can afford to be erratic or drop the ball short in the points of their service games because it will be difficult to regain the upper hand in the rally. The one who plays the big points better will be the one who will come through. Federer's not done a lot wrong since the match against Raonic and I think Berdych will find it harder to maintain a high level of tennis and so for these reasons I'm going to back Federer to win his 20th Masters title in three tight sets.