Federer vs. Nadal as Del Potro goes down

Roger Federer has no trouble in setting up a dream title match against Rafael Nadal at the Masters Series Madrid. He defeats Juan Martin Del Potro in the semifinals on Saturday night.


The stage is set for Federer-Nadal XX.

And the buildup is not unlike that of Federer-Nadal XIX. Their 19th encounter came in the final of this year's Australain Open after Rafael Nadal labored through an epic semifinal against Fernando Verdasco while Roger Federer cruised in both his quarterfinal and semifinal clashes.

This time at the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Masters, Nadal reached the final by outlasting Novak Djokovic 3-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(9) in another classic after saving three match points in the third-set tiebreaker. At four hours and two minutes, it was the longest three-set match in Masters Series history.

Federer then came out and spent less than a third of that time on the court, dispatching Juan Martin Del Potro 6-3, 6-4 in the second--and far less memorable--semifinal of the day. The world No. 2 needed just one hour and 21 minutes to set up the 20th career showdown between Federer and Nadal.

Del Potro had chances to take a quick advantage, but he squandered four break point in the early stages of the opening set. The missed opportunities came back to haunt him when he played his first poor service game at 3-4. Federer broke at love in the midst of a streak that saw him win eight of nine points. The break gave Federer a 5-3 lead and he promptly served out the first set in routine fashion. Madrid's No. 2 seed never refused to allow his opponent to dictate play, as Del Potro had done all night long against Murray in the quarterfinals. A more aggressive Federer blasted 19 winners to 14 unforced errors in set one while Del Potro struck just three winners against nine mistakes.

The second frame of play progressed in similar fashion. Federer, however, was even more dominant on serve and he never faced a break point while winning 18 of 20 first-serve points. A break midway through the set was enough for Federer to cruise into the final. He almost finished off the match with an insurance break for good measure, but Del Potro came back for 0-30 down at 3-5, forcing his opponent to close things out on serve. Federer did so in impressive fashion, ending the proceedings with 10 more winners than errors (34 to 24). Del Potro was never really competitive in this one--nor close to as good as he was against Murray a day earlier--but still finished with a respectable ratio of 14 winners to 17 errors.

Federer is just 6-13 lifetime against arch-rival Nadal. Ten of their 19 meetings have been contested on clay, and Nadal is a dominant 9-1 in those encounters. Federer's lone dirt victory over the Spaniard came in the final of the 2007 Masters Series Hamburg, where Federer beat Nadal 6-0 in the third set. They have also met in the past three French Open finals.