Nadal, Federer Djokovic reach Madrid semifinals

MADRID (AP) " Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal reached the Madrid Open semifinals on Friday, on pace for a clay-court showdown in the final.

Federer beat Andy Roddick again, 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-1 while Nadal stayed perfect against Fernando Verdasco with a 6-4, 7-5 victory.

Defending champion Andy Murray lost to fifth-seeded Juan Martin del Potro 7-6 (4), 6-3 for the first time in four meetings. Novak Djokovic will get a fourth shot at beating Nadal this year after dispatching wild card Ivan Ljubicic 6-4, 6-4.

Top-ranked Dinara Safina advanced to the women's last four with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Alona Bondarenko, and will play Patty Schnyder, who beat fourth-seeded Jelena Jankovic 7-6 (6), 6-3. Amelie Mauresmo will face Caroline Wozniacki in the other semi.

Federer improved to 18-2 against sixth-seeded Roddick after their first career meeting on dirt.

"His game translates well to most anything," Roddick said.

Nadal's 32nd straight clay win made him 9-0 against Verdasco, including three this year.

After taking the first set, Nadal fell behind 4-0 to his Davis Cup teammate before rallying to 4-4 with help from Verdasco's seven double faults.

"He was playing badly, very badly at that moment and I was just thinking to myself play better to get more confidence for the third (set)," said Nadal, who broke Verdasco for a fourth time to improve to 149-4 on clay since 2005. "I had a good comeback."

Nadal will play Djokovic again after the third-seeded Serb won a match heavy on groundstrokes.

"The more matches that I play against (Nadal), the more chances I have to prove something more to myself and to everybody else," said Djokovic, who lost to Nadal in the finals at Monte Carlo and Rome. "I know that just a couple of points here or there will decide the winner."

Federer, who won here in 2006 when the tournament was played on an indoor hard court, broke Roddick twice in the first set then conceded a 3-0 lead in the second-set tiebreaker. The Swiss star broke early in the deciding set and fired 15 aces past Roddick.

Murray let his frustration get the better of him as del Potro overcame a 5-2 first-set deficit. Murray was forced into a tiebreaker, where he made many of his 34 unforced errors and was left kicking out at his racket.

Del Potro, who hit 23 winners, will now try to end a four-match losing streak against Federer.

"I'm expecting a tough match," Federer said.

Safina overcame a letdown after a blazing start against 46th-ranked Bondarenko and took the opening set with a break in the 10th game.

"I had a bad call from the umpire and I lost a little bit of concentration," Safina said after blowing a 3-0 lead. "But I found my game and I'm playing every match better and better."

Schnyder's high balls troubled Jankovic, who has been battling a cold for nearly a month. The fourth-ranked Serb, who had a set point at 6-5 in the tiebreaker, committed 35 unforced errors while Schnyder hit 29 winners.

"I didn't close out (my chances). That made a big difference," Jankovic said. "From there things went downhill."

Mauresmo rallied for a 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 win over Agnes Szavay, and will meet for the first time Wozniacki, the only other seeded player to advance after the No. 9 beat qualifier Vera Dushevina 6-0, 6-4.