Rafael Nadal will take on Roger Federer at the Madrid Open for the third straight year after both men came through their quarterfinal matches in straight sets on Friday.
Nadal scored a straightforward 6-2, 6-2 victory over Michael Llodra, while Federer was a 7-6 (2), 6-4 winner over Robin Soderling. Having broken Llodra for the first of four times in the opening game, Nadal didn’t have to defend a single break point on serve as he won 25 of 30 first service points.
“I didn’t think I would win like that,” said Nadal, who also beat Llodra in their only prior meeting on the challenger circuit in 2003. “He’s got a powerful serve and dangerous volley so it’s hard to pass him but in the first set he committed some errors. Winning that first set gave me a lot of confidence.”
Federer, meanwhile, was pushed by his Swedish opponent who saved three first set points before finally succumbing to the third-ranked Federer in a tiebreaker.
Soderling lost some of his momentum after that and netted on match point to confirm the attractive semifinal match-up. “Conditions were tough today; I didn’t know we could get such wind in a closed stadium. But I thought I played a great match from start to finish,” said Federer.
“I’m excited, I’m playing Rafa here in the next round. I’ve beaten him here in the past, but it will obviously depend a lot on the day, but he’s the favourite on the clay.”
Earlier, Thomaz Bellucci was the first men’s player to reach the semifinals. The Brazilian followed up his third round victory over Andy Murray to win a battle of baseliners against seventh-seeded Tomas Berdych 7-6 (2), 6-3.
The 36th-ranked Bellucci was also dominating on serve, winning 85 per cent of first serve points and didn’t face a break point against the seventh-ranked Czech. Julia Goerges beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 6-2 for her 10th straight win to reach the women’s semifinals.
The German player, who defeated top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki in the third round, had six aces and didn’t drop a service game while breaking her Russian opponent three times for her 10th straight victory.
Goerges will play Victoria Azarenka of Belarus for a place in Sunday’s final. The fourth-seeded Azarenka beat Czech player Lucie Safarova 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.
Australian Open finalist Li Na of China beat American player Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 to play Petra Kvitova in the last four. The Czech player beat Dominika Cibulkova 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.
