Berdych pace proves too much for Nadal

From the posters all over the city promoting this week's Mutua Madrilena Masters here you might have thought that Rafael Nadal was the only competitor. The posters, however, have outlasted the world No 2, who was beaten 6-3, 7-6 by Tomas Berdych last night in a heated quarter-final.

The spectators angered Berdych by cheering his errors, especially his double faults. The 21-year-old Czech made a point of celebrating his winners extravagantly and glaring down the court at Nadal, who has not reached a semi-final since Wimbledon.

At the end Berdych put a finger to his lips to silence the crowd. Nadal was not impressed by the world No 11 ­ who has now beaten him three times in a row ­ and told him that he was "very bad" and "stupid".

In today's semi-finals Berdych meets Fernando Gonzalez, who beat Novak Djokovic 7-5, 5-7, 7-5. Twenty-four hours earlier Djokovic had accounted for Andy Murray, who led with a break at 4-3 in the second set but lost to the Serb 1-6, 7-5, 6-3. Murray, who put his defeat down to mental tiredness and serving "really, really badly", indicated he might pull out of his last two tournaments this year, Basle next week and the Paris Masters a week later. "I don't want to punish myself mentally if I don't need to," he said. "I'm not sure what there is to gain from the next couple of tournaments. I'm not going to qualify for [the Tennis Masters Cup in] Shanghai."

Murray said he was determined to be better prepared mentally next year. "You probably won't see me playing a tournament before any Grand Slams or Masters series because the most important thing is to peak for them," he said.

Murray said that David Beckham, whom he met in the players' lounge before his match, was another who set a good example, for the way he copes with fame. "I'm probably not going to get one tenth of the criticism or media attention that he's had, but he's dealt with everything so well," Murray said. "He was very, very polite to me. He didn't need to come in and say hello."

Roger Federer and Nalbandian meet in today's other semi. Federer beat Robby Ginepri 6-3, 7-6, while Nalbandian overcame Marat Safin 6-4, 6-7, 7-6. Safin, like Nalbandian's previous two opponents, served for the match, but at 6-5 and 30-30 the Argentine played two excellent points before winning the tie-break 7-2.