Novak Djokovic continued one streak and stopped another streak. He extended his win streak  to thirty  on the year and stopped his clay court losing streak to David Ferrer by beating the Spaniard 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

Point of the match

“I was aware of the quality of my opponent today and the fact that I never won against him on clay,”

“I needed to be emotionally stable and handle in the best possible way because obviously I had to stay focused and work hard and that crowd was behind him which was expected. I wanted to use the opportunity and that’s what I did.”

Djokovic who will face Thomaz Bellucci in the semifinal is now number two on the Open Era list behind John McEnroe for best start to a season.

“I didn’t think I would win like that,” stated Rafael Nadal after destroying Micheal Llodra 6-2, 6-2 in the quarterfinals in Madrid extending his clay court winning streak to 36.. “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.”

Nadal spoke about his play, “today it was quite good, especially here with the altitude it’s a little bit more complicated because it’s more difficult to go over him….it’s a bit more difficult with the serve. I felt quite good on the court, I served well. In the second set there were quite a lot of rallies and not so many in the first and I think I played really well.”

Nadal will face Roger Federer in the semis on Saturday. Federer defeated Robin Soderling 7-6, 6-4. “Conditions were tough today, said Federer. “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.”

Saturday will mark the 24^th career meeting between Nadal and Federer. Nadal holding a commanding 15-8 record overall, and 10-2 on clay.

“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 favorite on the clay,” said Federer.

Thomaz Bellucci

Brasil’s Thomaz Bellucci has consecutive victories over top ten players at the Madrid Open. On Thursday Bellucci thrashed Andy Murray and on Friday he stopped No. 7 Tomas Berdych 7-6(2), 6-3 to reach the semifinals.

It’s all about gaining confidence said Bellucci,”of course, yesterday’s (Thursday’s) match gave me a lot of confidence that I was needing…I was losing some games and wasn’t playing very well, but yesterday I played my best tennis and today I had a lot of confidence on the court and I managed to get a victory. Today I played well and I have got even more confidence for tomorrow’s match.”

“The most important thing is that I continue playing like I have been and with a lot of concentration and I manage to play my best.”

Julia Goerges

Germany’s Julia Goerges took out Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 6-2 for her 10^th consecutive victory gaining a semifinal berth in Madrid. She’ll face Victoria Azarenka a  6-3, 3-6, 6-2 winner over Lucie Safarova. Azarenka on her contest with Safarova: “I managed to step up my level but it was hard to break her because she was serving so well. I kept fighting for every point and got through in the end.”

Bethanie Mattek-Sands’ run in Madrid is over, due to Li Na. The Australian Open finalist stopped Mattek-Sands 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. “Bethanie played amazing today, it was fantastic tennis. I kept looking at my couch thinking, ‘What’s going on here!’” “I’m really happy to win this one. I am happy about winning again and I hope to go even further here.”

Li Na will play Petra Kvitova for a place in the final. The Czech defeated good friend Dominika Cibulkova 3-6, 6-3, 5-7.

Madrid Open Results and Order of Play

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