Read Thomas Johansson’s (Tournament Director) thoughts about Saturday

Gaël Monfils, Milos Raonic, Jarkko Nieminen and James Blake are the semifinalists for this year’s If Stockholm Open. After today’s games, we will know who will play for the title on Sunday.

Today our Finnish friend, Jarkko Nieminen plays his fifth semifinal in twelve appearances at the If Stockholm Open. At 13:00, he faces two-time champion James Blake, who won six matches between the two. Jarkko’s only win against Blake came in the quarterfinals of the If Stockholm Open last year, when he defeated the American 6-0, 6-2. Both players are big crowd favorites who thrive amazingly well at the Kungl. (Royal) Tennis Hall and see the center court as their home court.

In the other semifinal match, we have Milos Raonic and first-seeded Gaël Monfils. 20-year-old Raonic has gotten better and better with every match he’s played in the tournament. The 193 cm tall Canadian has a terribly good serve and has only had one break point against him in his 37 serving games. But, Monfils is very good at hitting back many returns and moves fantastically well on the court. Raonic will try to take the initiative early to avoid long rallies, while Monfils will rely on his effective movement patterns.

Do not miss today’s last doubles semifinal game between fourth-seeded Marcelo Melo/Bruno Soares and last year’s victors Eric Butorac/Jean-Julien Rojer. The latter are knocking on the door of the ATP finals and are the favorites of today’s match.

Monfils, Raonic, Nieminen and Blake – four players that I did not expected to advance to the semifinals, but I am pleasantly surprised and look forward to some great games on the center court today.

Thomas Johansson
Tournament Director