Madrid, Spain (Sports Network) - Roger Federer and Tomas Berdych were winners
Saturday in the semifinals at the Madrid Open and will meet for the title of
the French Open tuneup on Sunday.
The sixth-seeded Berdych fought through a pair of tiebreakers in the first
match of the day and claimed a 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (8-6) triumph over Argentina's
Juan Martin del Potro, before the third-seeded Federer disposed of Serbia's
Janko Tipsarevic in a 6-2, 6-3 rout.
Tipsarevic denied a blockbuster semifinal matchup when he eliminated
countrymate Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals on Friday. Federer then made
short work of Tipsarevic on Saturday, winning in a mere 67 minutes to improve
to 5-0 in the all-time series.
Federer, who will eclipse the $70 million mark in career earnings after
Sunday's final, would overtake Spanish superstar Rafael Nadal for No. 2 in the
world with a win on Sunday.
The 30-year-old Swiss native has already won three titles in 2012, earning the
crowns in Rotterdam, Dubai and Indian Wells. He will try for his 74th career
title on Sunday and his third in Madrid, having won at the Magic Box in 2006
and again in 2009. In addition, he was the Madrid runner-up in 2007 and 2010.
A win Sunday would also give Federer 20 career Masters titles, tying him with
Nadal for the most all-time. Nadal reached the plateau last month at Monte
Carlo.
The sixth-seeded Berdych will try for his eighth career title and second of
2012. He beat Gael Monfils for the Montpellier crown back in February and had
been a semifinal loser twice since that triumph. One of those losses came
against del Potro in Rotterdam. He also lost to Djokovic in the Monte Carlo
semifinals last month.
Del Potro, who went on to lose to Federer in the Rotterdam finale, was trying
for his third title of 2012. He won at Marseille in February and again at
Estoril just last week. Saturday's setback snapped a 10-match winning streak.
Federer owns a 10-4 mark against Berdych, including wins in both of their clay
meetings -- 2005 in Hamburg and 2006 at the French Open. However, two of
Berdych's biggest career wins came against Federer. He won the first-ever
meeting between the two at the Athens Olympics in 2004 and stunned the 16-time
Grand Slam champ six years later in the Wimbledon quarterfinals.
Sunday's winner will earn $770,000.
The Sports Network