A Madrid Open full of surprises

A week marked by surprise results at the Madrid Masters was very nearly exceeded by events on Friday as the quarterfinals got underway. In the first match on Court Manolo Santana Anabel Medina, the last Spanish woman in the draw and the first to reach the last eight in the tournament’s current format, was up against defending champion and world number one Serena Williams.

The match started as might be expected, Williams breaking twice to wrap up the first set 6-3 but few could have envisaged what would unfold next: Medina, the world number 63, delivered the tennis equivalent of regicide to a startled queen bee — a love set. Williams had not been on the receiving end of one since 2008 at the hands of her sister, Venus.

Medina then reeled off four straight games to sweep to 4-2 in the third, only to be pegged back to 4-4 as Williams recovered from the shock. Medina held serve to force Williams to do likewise to stay in the tournament, which she duly did. The number one then broke and served out to earn a 6-3, 0-6, 7-5 win and a place in the semifinals.

Medina will rue her missed chance, but at least she can tell her grandchildren she handed the great Serena Williams a “donut” at her home tournament.

Nadal needed to o wheel out the big guns to pound his rival into submission

David Ferrer also came within two points of ousting Rafa Nadal, the favorite to win the title, later in the day. Ferrer, ranked higher than Nadal at four going into the competition, is a tenacious customer and the king of clay was handed notice early on that he would be required to put in a bit of legwork to reach the last four.

In a lengthy rally at 2-1 on Nadal’s serve, Ferrer pulled his opponent this way and that and Nadal soon realized that he was going to have to wheel out the big guns to pound his rival into submission. It was a plan that worked: the rocket forehand to Ferrer’s reverse tramline was the only shot in Nadal’s armory the Valencian player had no answer to. But Ferrer is a master of attrition and brought up three break points, moving to 3-1 when Nadal sent a backhand long. But despite holding serve Ferrer’s advantage was soon scaled back when Nadal produced a flurry of incredible shots, culminating in a wonderful lob to break back at 3-4.

Ferrer took the first set 6-4 with a fine volley into open court after working Nadal around with some blistering drives. An exchange of breaks in the second took Ferrer to 3-2 and he deployed the same tactic to claim his opponent’s serve again after Nadal had saved the first of two break opportunities with an audacious drop shot.

But as in the first set, Ferrer could not build on his advantage and dropped serve to love despite the boon of new balls. Nadal then held to the same score with a lob and an ace as the match built to a crescendo in front of a delighted, if slightly subdued, main show court. The Javea-born player’s supporters were more vocal still when their man broke yet again to bring up 5-5 and then held to love to force Nadal to keep his nerve to stay in the tournament.

And that is when the pendulum swung inexorably toward the glowering Mallorcan. At 15-30, Ferrer again worked his way toward a winner with sumptuous court craft. Approaching the ball at inviting height in the mid-court, he hammered a drive at Nadal’s feet -- which the world number five somehow dug out and transformed into a tricky defensive lob. The backpedaling Ferrer could only hope to get it in play and Nadal hungrily dispatched the return.

It was a point that turned the match. Nadal took the game to a tie-break with that thunderous forehand drive and although defeat is not a word in the soft-spoken Ferrer’s vocabulary, his head dropped a tad when Nadal took control to bring up 5-3. A double fault and a forehand dumped into the net later and it was all over. The scoreboard read 1-1 but the tide had turned and Nadal duly swept his opponent aside 6-0 in a final set that had the air of an exhibition match.

Nadal will play the winner of the match between Kei Nishikori and Spaniard Pablo Andújar for a place in Sunday’s final.