Federer books Berdych final after beating Tipsarevic

[DexteR]

Roger Federer wasted little time in booking his place in the Madrid Open final, seeing off Janko Tipsarevic 6-2 6-3 to set up a showdown with Tomas Berdych.

World No. 3 Federer, who has twice won the tournament before and who will rise to second in the rankings if he wins a third time, adapted immediately to the tricky conditions as wind made things difficult for both players early in the match.

The Swiss broke Tipsarevic's serve for a second time to take the opening set in just 32 minutes, and his clinical display carried into the second set as he again broke to move 3-1 clear before sealing his progression with little fuss.

It was a disappointing exit for the Serb who had impressively seen off his compatriot Novak Djokovic in the previous round, and Federer will now meet Berdych in the showpiece.

The Czech secured his place in the final with a close 7-6 7-6 win over Juan Martin del Potro earlier on Saturday afternoon, in a tight and powerful encounter.

Untimely errors from Del Potro in the tie breaks for each set proved costly for the Argentine, who never really got to grips with his opponent's groundstrokes and appeared to struggle with grip on the court surface.

Both players won a total of 79 points in the evenly-matched contest and broke one another's serve twice each, but Berdych's 41 winning points to Del Potro's 30 combined with 15 aces from the Czech swung the match his way.

Del Potro broke Berdych's serve early in the first set and led 5-3 at one stage, before his opponent laid on some pacey shots to bring himself back into the set, breaking Del Potro's serve in the tenth game to level at 5-5 before edging the tie break to take the opening set.

Berdych broke Del Potro's serve in the opening game of the second set and went 3-1 up as he appeared to be racing towards a swift finish, but a resurgence from the Argentine - which included a break of serve in the sixth game - took him into a 4-3 lead.

With little to separate the duo the set went to a tie break in which Berdych raced into a lead after a slip from Del Potro at a crucial moment, but Del Potro managed to edge ahead 5-4 before an error handed Berdych matchpoint on his own serve which he duly converted.