- The new odds

The serious stuff will start tomorrow for the remaining four contenders for the Louis Vuitton Cup, with the Kiwis and the Yankees favourites to reach the final showdown.

The Semi Finals are a different game from the Round Robin portion of the regatta.

Now, the teams are paired head to head. The first team in each pairing to earn five points will advance.

The Race Committee intends to conduct racing on one course on the Northern race area. Racing begins with a warning signal at 14:50 and a first race start at 15:00. Each team announced that it would be sailing the same boat that it used in the Round Robin.

Team New Zealand vs Desafío Español

Team New Zealand completed a clean sweep of 10 victories in the second set of round robins to secure first place in the rankings and the right to choose their opponents.

The experienced Kiwis elected to race Spanish newcomers Desafio in their best-of-nine semi-final. The Team New Zealand syndicate are the most experienced and successful of the three, having won the America's Cup in 1995 and 2000. They lost to Alinghi in 2003.

In choosing local favourites Desafio they have selected a boat they have never lost to. The closest the Spaniards have run them in seven races is 33 seconds.

"Team New Zealand won't have any difficulty with Desafío Español in the semifinals", said Yachting commentator Peter Lester, who helped to coach the Spanish in 1992. "The Spanish have reached their goal and they have said that. New Zealand should win 5-0".

"It is always a difficult choice but Dean [barker] made the right choice by choosing us," said Desafio Espanol helmsman Karol Jablonski. "It gives us the opportunity to pay them back. It's great for us to race New Zealand. To reach the semifinals we achieved our goal and we are really looking forward to it."

"We are working on a few specific things to make the boat a bit faster and also on our strategy," Jablonski added. "But what you haven't done in 2 1/2 years, you're not going to do in the next two days. We have got to get the momentum going and keep doing our job as good as we can."

Meanwhile, Emirates Team New Zealand coach Terry Hutchinson doesn't want the 2003 defenders to go into the matchup thinking they'll sweep it 5-0.

"You hear that we're the favorite against Spain but sitting here right now, the scorecard is even and so I look it as two even teams going out there racing," Hutchinson said Sunday. "I know we're prepared for a full nine-race series against the Spanish and I think any other way would be naive."

"The team has finished the rounds robin exactly as we planned so long ago... strong and sailing well," said managing director Grant Dalton. "On Monday the game starts all over again. Every win to date in the LV Cup counts for nothing."

Life wasn't so rosy for Team New Zealand in the first round of the competition. They were beaten three times and slipped from being the top challenger to third.

"It is pretty tough, though ... every single race, with the odd exception, you really had to be paying attention, particularly when it is very shifty", Said Grant Dalton. "The boat couldn't really do the talking for you because it was so damn shifty."

If New Zealand are the grizzled and battle-hardened campaigners, the Spaniards are the fresh-faced upstarts having been set up only in 2004. It is the first time a Spanish boat has reached this stage. They secured fourth place when their nearest rivals Victory Challenge lost their penultimate race, but team head Agustin Zulueta was keen to stress that they merited their place.

"We are in the semi-finals because we deserve to be, not because Victory Challenge lost. We won 13 races during the round robin stages, which demonstrates a job well done," he said. "We have succeeded in creating a Desafio team that is for everyone and proves that sailing is not just for an elite few."

"The others have budgets almost twice as big as ours and between them 18 years' experience, to our two", he added. "The pressure is all on them now. We are going to enjoy it."

"We've never beaten them, but we've had some close races and this is another chance", he concluded. "I know we have the potential."

BMW Oracle Racing vs Luna Rossa Challenge

The Team New Zealand's choice leaving BMW Oracle and Italian syndicate Luna Rossa to slug it out in the other best-of-nine semi-final.

The American BMW syndicate, who are estimated to have the biggest budget in the port, have proved slick and quick in Valencia but suffered a demoralising defeat to Team New Zealand in their last race to slip down to second.

"We will come back fresh and ready for the semi-finals. There is still a lot of racing to go," Oracle skipper Chris Dickson said, expecting the team to rebound against Luna Rossa through some tight contests.

"We've had close races with Luna Rossa most times we've raced and I'm sure we're going to see some more".

The team have beaten Luna Rossa, who came in third, in six of the 10 races between the boats, though their largest winning margin was a mere 19 seconds.

"Luna Rossa will have to attack. If it becomes a boat-on-boat race, Oracle are a bit quicker", said Peter Lester.

Luna Rossa are making a lot of changes to their boat - changing the keel, bulb and rig - which can be risky. Oracle are also understood to have a lot more new gear coming. It is understood they are testing a new bulb.

"It's going to be a real battle, the boats are very similar", Luna Rossa helmsman James Spithill said. "They'll be tough races looking at the ones we've already had - they've all been very close. I am expecting to have to do all nine races."