Britain's top tennis player, Andy Murray, has been knocked out of the Madrid Open by the Heineken Open winner in Auckland in January, Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina.
Del Potro beat Murray in straight sets, 7-6(4) 6-3 in the quarter-finals to book a date with Swiss world number two Roger Federer.
The world number one Rafael Nadal plays the Serb number three Novak Djokovic in the other semi-final in Madrid after Nadal beat his fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 6-4 7-5.
Federer survived a gritty Andy Roddick fightback to beat the American 7-5 6-7 6-1 while Djokovic also stayed on course for a fifth straight final appearance with a 6-4 6-4 win over Croatian wildcard Ivan Ljubicic.
In the women's event the semi-finalists have all been found after the Swiss Patty Schnyder beat the Serb Jelena Jankovic 7-6(6) 6-3, the Russian Dinara Safina beat the Ukrainian Alona Bondarenko 6-4 6-3, the Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo beat Hugnary's Agnes Szavay 5-7 6-1 6-1 and Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki beat Vera Dushevina of Russia 6-0 6-4.
Safina faces Schnyder in the semis while Mauresmo faces Wozniacki.
