Madrid Open 2012 Semifinals Live: Federer vs Tipsaveric; Del Potro vs Berdych

There will be no world no. 1 vs no. 2 showdown at the 2012 Mutua Madrid Open. Both Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal were both booted out from the Madrid tennis tournaments before the semi-final round. World no. 3 Roger Federer is still in the hunt though, and he has additional incentive. A win in Madrid will bring Federer back to the world no. 2 ranking allowing him to overtake Nadal right before the French Open. Will it happen? Despite the exit of the two top ranked players, three other top 10 players are going to try and deny Federer's ascent. They are Tomas Berdych, Janko Tipsaveric, and Juan Martin del Potro - ranked no. 7, 8, and 10 in the world respectively. Watch the Mutua Madrid Open 2012 semifinals live online featuring Federer vs Tipsaveric and Del Potro vs Berdych here.

The first semi-final is a match-up between sixth-seeded Berdych and no. 10 seed Juan Martin del Potro. Berdych improved to 10-4 lifetime against Rafael Nadal's conqueror, No. 15 seed Fernando Verdasco of Spain, after a 6-1, 6-2 victory in 67 minutes to reach his second Madrid semi-finals. In an earlier match on Friday, Del Potro maintained his run of form on clay after he defeated No. 16 seed Alexandr Dolgopolov of the Ukraine in a 6-3, 6-4 victory in 84 minutes to advance to his fifth ATP World Tour Masters 1000 semi-final. He hit 10 aces, won 69 per cent of his service points and converted three of his seven break point opportunities. Brisbane International finalist Dolgopolov drops to 15-10 in 2012.

Del Potro is now 10-0 on clay this year and has not lost a single set. He improved to a 31-6 match record on the season, which includes two ATP World Tour titles at the Open 13 in Marseille and at last week's Estoril Open. The former World no. 4 and 2009 US Open champion also finished runner-up at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam losing to Federer. Del Potro leads Berdych 3-1 in their career head-to-head winning the last three times they faced each other including a straight set victory this year in the semifinals in Rotterdam.

In the second match, Federer will play Serbia's no. 2 Tipsaveric. Federer advanced to the semifinals by beating world no. 5 and Spain's no. 2 player David Ferrer 6-4 6-4. The Swiss legend is bidding to equal Nadal’s record of 20 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles. He is looking to win his third title from his past six ATP World Tour Masters 1000 appearances, dating back to his victory last November at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris. During that time he also won a record sixth Barclays ATP World Tour Finals crown.

Seventh seed Tipsarevic hit 30 winners past world no. 1 and defending champion Novak Djokovic on Friday in a 7-6(2), 6-3 victory that gave him a place in his first second ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event. Both players won 71 per cent of their service points and committed 20 unforced errors in their sixth meeting. It was only Djokovic's fourth loss of the season. Tipsaveric has not beaten Federer in four career matches. Their last meeting was on clay at the 2011 French Open and Federer was a comfortable 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 winner.

Madrid Open 2012 Semifinals - Saturday, May 12, 2012 Schedule

Manolo Santana
1. Juan Martin del Potro vs. Tomas Berdych (NB 15.30hrs)
2. Janko Tipsarevic vs. Roger Federer (NB 19.00hrs)

Stadium 3 (from 13.00hrs)
1. Bhupathi/Bopanna vs. Lindstedt/Tecau
2. Fyrstenberg/Matkowski vs. Mirnyi/Nestor (NB 14.30hrs)

Watch 2012 Mutua Madrid Open men's singles semifinals live between Federer vs Tipsaveric and Del Potro vs Berdych through TennisTv.com