P – Tomas Berdych mastered the slick blue clay to topple Argentine Juan Martin del Potro 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (8-6) on Saturday to reach the final of the Madrid Masters tennis tournament.
The sixth-seeded Czech will bid for his eighth career title — and second at the Masters 1000 level — on Sunday when he plays third seed Roger Federer or Serbian seventh seed Janko Tipsarevic.
Berdych fired down 15 aces in a contest lasting just over two and a quarter hours at the Caja Magica.
The Czech won only his second match out of five against del Potro, who captured the Estoril title last weekend, as he began his campaign for the French Open later than most of his rivals after resting at home.
Coming to the court, Berdych had won 26 service games this week and pocketed one more before finally being broken in the third game of the opening set.
But he took it back in the 10th game for 5-5 as del Potro was broken while serving for the set.
The distraught Argentine rallied from 1-5 down in the tiebreaker but still lost the set after 68 minutes.
Berdych began the second with a break, was broken back for 3-3, but again showed his nerve with a winning tiebreak effort to advance into the title match on a second match point after del Potro saved the first with an ace.
Del Porto dropped to 10-1 on clay this season and 22-2 on sets after defeating Berdych in their past three meetings without losing a set.
Berdych will be playing in his 14th ATP World Tour final and third Masters final, having won in Paris seven years ago before losing in Miami in 2010.
Saturday’s win was his 26th of the season and ninth on clay.
In the women’s, Serena Williams will meet top-ranked Victoria Azarenka in the final after both players dispensed with their rivals in straight sets on Saturday.
Williams beat Lucie Hradecka 7-6 (7-5) 6-0 and Azarenka ousted fourth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2 6-4.
The ninth-ranked Williams edged out the tenacious Czech to play for her second title of the season. Azarenka has won four tournaments so far this year.
Williams struggled with her serve in the first set that she won in a tiebreaker. She then broke Hradecka three times in the second to cruise to her 12th consecutive win on clay this season.
The 105th-ranked Hradecka beat defending champion Petra Kvitova and US Open winner Sam Stosur to reach the semis.
Earlier, Azarenka was in good form and had little trouble beating Radwanska for the sixth straight time.
Azarenka hit a deep return to set up a slam and break her Polish opponent’s first service game, and went on to hit 14 winners and held for love to wrap up the first set.
The players traded a pair of breaks in the second set before Azarenka, the runner-up last year, won a decisive third break with a crosscourt return.
“I’m really happy. All the top players are here and I’m in the final and looking forward to it,” said the 22-year-old Belarusian.
“(Radwanska and I) keep meeting each other. I’m glad to win today. The score maybe wasn’t so close, but it was a good match.”