Rafael Nadal Eyes Stuttgart Title

In the first semifinal, Nadal and Lopez meet for the third time (tied 1-1) with Nadal winning the last meeting 6-4, 6-2 in the second round of Barcelona last year. Nadal went on to capture the title.

Nadal is trying to reach his ATP-best eighth final of the season (5-2) and his 16th straight clay court final (14-1). The 21-year-old Spaniard has won 91 of his last 92 matches on clay and advanced to 15 consecutive clay court finals since April 2005, losing only to No. 1 Roger Federer in the championship of ATP Masters Series Hamburg on May 20.

Nadal enters with a 54-8 record on the season (29-1 on clay) and an ATP-best five titles. Nadal has won 25 straight matches on clay against his countrymen since his last loss to David Ferrer here in the quarterfinals in 2004. Nadal has been No. 2 a record 104 consecutive weeks in the ATP Rankings (since July 25, 2005).

Lopez is 16-14 on the year and he is appearing in his first ATP semifinal since July last year when he advanced to the final in Gstaad (l. to Gasquet). The 25-year-old Madrid native is 1-3 in his career in ATP finals, winning his lone title in Vienna in October 2004 (d. Canas). Lopez has a 12-27 career record against Top 10 opponents with his last win coming over No. 10 Tomas Berdych here in the second round. His highest-ranked win came over No. 3 Ivan Ljubicic in the first round of the 2006 US Open.

In the second semifinal, Chela takes on Wawrinka for the second time. The Swiss native won their only previous encounter in four sets in the first round of last year’s US Open.

Chela comes into the semifinals with a 32-15 match record on the season, including 21-9 on clay. The 27-year-old Argentine is making his third ATP semifinal (or better) this year. Chela won his fourth career ATP title in Acapulco (d. Moya) in March and was a semifinalist in Costa do Sauipe (l. to Canas) in February. He also advanced to three ATP Masters Series quarterfinals (Indian Wells, Miami, Rome). The No. 2 ranked Argentine (behind No. 16 Canas) is trying to reach his 10th career ATP final (4-5).

Wawrinka is appearing in his first ATP semifinal since Basel last October. The 22-year-old Swiss native comes in with a 6-11 match record on the season. He missed nearly three months with a knee injury. Wawrinka is trying to reach his third career ATP final, having won his first title in Umag (d. Djokovic) last year. He was runner-up in Gstaad two years ago (l. to Gaudio). (ATP Digital Services)