Madrid – semifinals

2nd semifinal:

(3)Roger Federer d. (7)Janko Tipsarevic         6-2, 6-3                                 [ 1:07 h ]

Tipsarevic made a huge progress in the last fifteen months or so, but he hasn’t still reached a level to get a Grand Slam semifinal or ‘Masters 1000’ final. Federer jumped to a 4:1 lead in both sets to control the match emphatically. “I didn’t even know about the number two ranking so that’s new to me,” said Federer commenting a possibility to swap Nadal on No. 2 winning Madrid’s title tomorrow. “I’m focused on what I’m doing here this week, trying to play well and get far. I have been feeling better and better as the tournament went on. It’s tough conditions today. There was a lot of wind and so forth.” Federer improved a perfect 5-0 record against Tipsarevic, who stated: “I think that the main reason is that he was a better player than me out there. The main thing is that he managed to adjust to the wind really, really well. I think that apart from being the best player, that he is probably the best the player in the world when it comes to adjusting to any situation on the court.” Until this year the Serb appeared only twice in Madrid losing his opening matches on both occasions.

1st semifinal:

(6)Tomas Berdych d. (10)Juan Martin del Potro            7-6(5), 7-6(6)                      [ 2:18 h ] 

Four previous matches between Berdych and Del Potro disappointed, all of them were lopsided, Del Potro won on three occasions. This time was otherwise, two tight sets lasting more than two hours, both won by Berdych despite Del Potro was two points away in both tie-breakers. The Argentine had also a good position to win the 1st set leading 5:3*, but lost the two following games to 15 & 0. In the 1st tie-break DelPo recovered from a 1:5 deficit, but made an unforced backhand error serving at 5-all. He suffered a semifinal defeat after exactly the same scoreline to Federer two months ago in Dubai… Berdych has been the biggest specialist of tie-breaks given two seasons: 29-10 record (74 %). He advances for the third time to a Masters 1000 final, previously he did it in Paris ’05 and Miami ’10. “I am definitely very happy with the game I played here since the beginning of the week,” said Berdych. “It doesn’t matter that much if you drop a set or not, it’s just how it is. Sometimes you can fight through the whole tournament and then get to the final as well.”