The match we all wanted to see is happening tonight at the Paris Masters Semi Final. Yes Federer and Djokovic have both come through their previous matches with strong displays against worthy opponents, Federer against Nishikori yesterday where he scored a straight sets victory and only allowed one break point opportunity the whole match to Nishikori. Djokovic's match vs Cilic was a bit more of a cagey affair where the new World Number 1 had to come from a set down to take out Cilic.

The most interesting part about this encounter tonight is the actual odds on Federer to win. Never before have I seen him at 3.20 to win over Djokovic. These are mouthwatering odds that I never expected to see, even given recent history and how well Djokovic has performed in the past 4 months. Just a quick recap on the Serb, he has won 2 Grand Slams and 2 Masters Titles, something no one ever expected to happen given his form in the lead up and during the French Open.

Federer has not had as an illustrious year as Djokovic, in particular the second half which has seen the Swiss pick up just two 500 trophies in Stuttgart and Basel this month. He has failed to win a single Masters unlike last year where at this point he had won three. Nevertheless he hasn't had a particular bad year overall. Winning the Australian Open in January is his highlight so there is no doubt he will be keen to finish the year strong and will have his sights set on winning both the Paris Masters and the London ATP finals. The only problem is Djokovic is standing in his way of achieving both and he won't be an easy obstacle to shift - indeed he is the immovable object that the Swiss has not managed to shift for a long time.

Watch: Djokovic Defeat Federer in Their Last Encounter in Cincinatti to Win His Golden Masters

You have to go back as far as the ATP London Finals in 2015 to find when Federer last beat Djokovic. In there past three encounters Fed-Ex has only managed to win one set out of a possible seven on offer. The signs do not look good for the 37 year old veteran star but on his day he is still capable of catching Djokovic off guard as he did Nadal on three separate occasions in 2017. Federer cannot afford to play into Djokovic's hands by being conservative full stop, he must be extra aggressive to have a chance of winning tonight. Djokovic is a stern defender of the ball so believing he can win with shots that are not licking the lines will only seal is fate as a hopeless loser to Djokovic, not just here but until he eventually retires - which will be a real shame for himself and his fans.

Djokovic has a far more successful history in Paris, unlike Federer who has only one won in Paris one time back in 2011, Djokovic has won this title 3 times in a row from 2013 to 2015. He is going into this match with supreme confidence having captured the Shanghai Masters where Federer failed to meet him in the final when he lost out to Coric in straight sets in the Semi's. Coric was beaten in straight sets in the final by Djokovic showing just how more easily Nole has been disposing of his opposition recently compared to Federer.

Still even a broken clock is right twice a day and with myself losing my last five predictions, even with some of those matches proving close affairs, here I am once again going for Federer rather than against him. I am currently 11-11 on my predictions blog.

Match Prediction:

Take Federer at 3.25 to win tonight outright. I think he has a 40% chance to pull this off so his odds are better than what I would expect. Djokovic is going to come into this match with an invincible attitude and rightly so. There is only one way for Federer to win and that is on his own terms, not waiting for Djokovic to make errors.

vs Nishikori, Fed served at a low percentage of 52% for first serves in, he will need to add 20% to that to beat Djokovic. Staggeringly on his first serve Federer won 97% of points against Nishikori. If he can increase his first serve percentage substantially he has a chance here against the best defender on tour.

Could we see a performance similar to the standard of the 2017 Australian Open? Here's hoping so for all Federer fans out there! To be honest I am not a big Federer fan, I do like Djokovic equally and think he is an exceptional player so I am not bias towards this result on that account, I just like Federer's odds here.