We stand on the brink of a spectacular showdown between the top two men in the world at the 2014 French Open. Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic each face one last obstacle before they can give the tennis world a matchup to set mouths watering. Can either of their semifinal opponents rain on the parade?

Novak Djokovic v. Ernests Gulbis

Throughout his career, Ernests Gulbis has talked the talk. He’s not afraid to tell the world how good he is, and for the most part the world hasn’t had a hard time disagreeing. But there’s an important distinction to make here. Being a talented tennis player doesn’t mean you’re a great tennis player. Just because you can hit every shot in the book doesn’t mean you can beat every opponent that comes your way, or that you know how to beat every opponent that comes your way. Gael Monfils is living, breathing proof of this.

Before this tournament, Ernests Gulbis was appropriately characterized as a gifted player, rather than a great player. Now in the semifinals, Gulbis is demonstrating that he is intent upon making the quantum leap from great talent to great player. If he were to win his next two matches, it would be difficult to argue that this task hasn’t been accomplished.

But before we can make any monumental declarations about Ernests Gulbis, the Latvian must take care of business in the semifinals, where he’ll face Novak Djokovic.

The Serbian is two victories away from completing the coveted career Grand Slam. He knows that while his ultimate nemesis is likely to be waiting for him in the final, Gulbis is no pushover. He’ll be more than aware of the composure and high level of play Gulbis maintained in his fourth round and quarterfinal matches where he took out Roger Federer and Tomas Berdych.

Djokovic leads the head-to-head 4-1 and won their only meeting on clay back in the quarterfinals of the 2008 French Open. All five matches contested between these two have ended in straight sets. Such an outcome is unlikely tomorrow, but with two players capable of rattling of strings of games at a time, a three-set match is always possible.

The pattern of play that will be spectacular to witness in this encounter is the backhand-to-backhand exchanges. Gulbis and Djokovic possess two of the best backhands in the world. Djokovic is known for the smooth and flowing nature by which he changes the direction of the ball off the backhand side, while Gulbis is often praised for his ability to unleash titanic cross-court blows with his backhand. Look for the player more readily willing to take his backhand up the line to have the upper hand in these rallies.

Gulbis’s last three opponents—Radek Stepanek, Federer, and Berdych—all have offensive-oriented games. The defensive skills that Djokovic has available to him aren’t something that Gulbis has seen. Djokovic’s ability to defend with an open-stance position off the backhand side should allow him to effectively neutralize the Latvian’s cross-court backhand.

Gulbis is going to have to raise his level to new, unseen heights over the duration of a best-of-five match get the job done. It’s possible, but certainly not probable.

Prediction: Djokovic in four sets

Rafael Nadal v. Andy Murray

Andy Murray has been on the right end of a lot of firsts over the last three years. In 2012, he won his first Grand Slam at the US Open. In 2013, he became the first British man in 76 years to Wimbledon. Tomorrow, he has the chance to beat Rafael Nadal on clay for the first time and reach his first French Open final.

Nadal should enter this match with a fair amount of confidence, since he leads the head-to-head 14-5 and has never lost to Murray on clay. These two most recently met in the quarterfinals of the Rome Masters. Murray stormed through the opening set 6-1 before Nadal recovered to win 7-5 in the third set. Despite losing, Murray looked better than he had at any other point of the season.

Murray’s quarterfinal was a see-saw affair that saw Murray silence the French crowd by winning the first two sets in convincing fashion before Monfils shifted the plot by racing through the fourth and fifth sets. In the fifth set, Monfils disappeared, and Murray was inexplicably able to take it in a 6-0 train wreck.

Nadal was able to roll over fellow Spaniard David Ferrer in four sets, only losing one game in the final two sets.

Murray will have to do almost everything right to pull off the nearly inconceivable upset. There will be no room for passivity. Nadal’s forehand and general offensive capacities require that Murray attempt to take the initiative in as many points as possible. It’ll be critical for Murray to keep Nadal out of the center of the court and make him play as many backhands as possible. Against Ferrer, Nadal dominated in the last three sets largely due to the fact that he was able to hit an increased amount of forehands.

Murray’s return of serve will also need to be spot-on against Nadal to reduce the Spaniard’s ability to put his opponent in defensive positions when serving. Nadal’s second serve is also one of the more vulnerable parts of his game. Since Murray has arguably the best second-serve return of serve in the ATP, he’s going to have to take his chances on second-serve points.

At the end of the day, Nadal has only been beaten one time at Roland Garros and it would be hard to imagine Andy Murray scoring the second.

Prediction: Nadal in three sets