Tomas Berdych was not intimidated by having to play Rafael Nadal on his turf.
The 11th seed from the Czech Republic, Berdych upset the second seed and defending champion, 6-3 7-6 (8-6), on Friday in the quarter-finals of the ATP Masters Series in Madrid.
Nadal rallied from a 5-3 deficit in the tiebreak to take a 6-5 lead. But on set point, Berdych hit a hard shot that skipped off the line, and Nadal only could hit the ball into the net. The Spaniard challenged the call but a replay proved Berdych's shot was good.
At 6-6, Berdych hit a backhand winner down the line and celebrated by pumping his arms and legs, drawing whistles from the crowd.
On match point, Nadal could not handle a hard serve by Berdych, sending a forehand return long.
Having dethroned the defending champion, Berdych awaits 10th-seeded Chilean Fernando Gonzalez, who rallied from a 5-2 third-set deficit for a 7-5 5-7 7-5 triumph over No 15 Novak Djokovic of Serbia.
Gonzalez had advanced to the quarter-finals in a walkover Thursday when Swede Joachim Johansson was unable to play because of pharyngitis.
Earlier on Friday, David Nalbandian did not make it easy on himself, but he nevertheless took a big step toward advancing to the year-end Tennis Masters Cup.
Nalbandian blew a match point in the second set and was down a break late in the third before posting a 6-4 6-7 (6-8) 7-6 (7-2) victory over Russian Marat Safin to reach the semi-finals.
The fourth seed, Nalbandian held a match point at 6-5 in the second-set tiebreak, but Safin countered with a pair of aces and forced a decisive set when the Argentinian sent a backhand wide.
Nalbandian, who entered the match eighth in the points race for the eight-man Tennis Masters Cup, was broken at 5-5 in the third set but immediately broke back to force a tiebreak.
He won the first four points of the breaker and Safin was unable to catch up.
Nalbandian will face Roger Federer in Saturday's semi-finals. The world's top player dismissed American Robby Ginepri, 6-3 7-6 (7-4).
The Swiss master improved to 3-0 lifetime against Ginepri, whom he last faced in the Cincinnati semi-finals last year, rallying for a 4-6 7-5 6-4 victory.
