Federer, Murray win to set up US Open rematch in Madrid; Nadal also advances

Fairly routine wins were the case for the three big stars playing on Friday at the Mutua Madrilena Masters Madrid, as No. 1 Rafael Nadal, No. 2 Roger Federer (pictured) and No. 4 Andy Murray all cruised into the semifinals. Frenchman Gilles Simon found himself in another dogfight but was able to beat No. 14 Ivo Karlovic without facing match points, unlike two of his other matches this week.

Federer, the 2006 Madrid champion and former World No. 1, had little trouble beating No. 9 seed Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina, 6-3, 6-3, in 89 minutes. The Swiss star lost only eight points on his first serve, while also winning 56 percent of his second service points. The 13-time grand slam singles champion broke serve three times, while the Argentine did not convert on his lone break point opportunity. Federer improves to 58-12 this season, which includes winning the US Open and titles in Estoril and Halle. Along with his three singles titles this year, Federer teamed with fellow Swiss player Stanislas Wawrinka to win the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics in August. The owner of four titles and a 23-match winning streak before a quarterfinal loss at the US Open, Del Potro now falls to 41-11 on the year. In the semifinals Federer will meet his US Open finals opponent Murray.

This afternoon Murray took care of business against Frenchman Gael Monfils in quick fashion, winning, 6-2, 6-2, in 68 minutes. Throughout the rather routine match, the Scotland native broke serve six times, while Monfils broke both times he had the chance.

“I’ve been playing great in practice and hopefully I can keep doing it in matches,” said Murray. “I’m not putting a whole lump of pressure on myself to win every time, I’m just going out and playing and playing well because of that. Playing against Federer is always a great challenge. I’ve played well against him in the past, apart from at the US Open, which wasn’t so good. I’ll definitely be much more relaxed tomorrow than in New York.”

Murray, who has already qualified for the year-end Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai, improves his series record to 2-1 against Monfils following today’s victory. Murray, the champion this year at the Masters Series Cincinnati and in Doha and Marseille, improves to 46-14 on the season. Monfils, who currently is ranked at a career high No. 18 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings, falls to 29-16 on the year.

Nadal, the defending champion at Roland Garros and Wimbledon won routinely, 6-4, 6-4, against fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez in just over 90 minutes. Despite hitting no aces, Nadal was steady with his serve as he won 74 percent of his first serve and 72 percent of his second serve points. The five-time grand slam champion and World No. 1, was able to break Lopez’s serve twice, while Lopez could not convert on his two break point chances. Nadal captured his 80th win of his historic season with his win this evening. Nadal, the owner of eight titles this year, is looking to capture his 13th career ATP Masters Series shield. The 22-year-old stands behind only Andre Agassi, who has won 17 and Federer who owns 14. Next up for Nadal is Simon, who won a three-set thriller over Karlovic.

Despite being down early breaks twice in the first set and once in the third set, Simon was able to get past against Karlovic, winning, 7-6(1), 4-6, 7-6(2). Karlovic smashed an incredible 27 aces compared to Simon’s four aces, but that wasn’t enough for the 6’10” serving machine out of Croatia. The singles winner this year in Bucharest, Casablanca and Indianapolis, Simon enters tomorrow’s semifinal match against Nadal having not yet won a set in his previous two meetings against the top-ranked player. They most recently faced each other in the third round of this year’s Australian Open.