Tomas Berdych derailed the promoter's dream final at the Madrid Masters Friday when he defeated defending champion Rafael Nadal 6-3, 7-6 (8/6) in the quarter-finals.
The 11th seeded Czech, who buried Roger Federer's gold medal dream at the 2004 Athens Olympics, worked his magic in the face of a screaming sell out crowd fully supporting the Spaniard.
Berdych broke once for 3-1 in the first set to seal the early lead. He then fought toe-to-toe with the second seed to take the contest into a second-set tiebreaker.
A pass down the line from the Czech earned a match point, with a service winner finishing the job in one hour, 47 minutes to give Berdych three straight wins over the world number two and double French Open champion.
Berdych left the court to a deafening chorus of jeers, as Nadal was left to contemplate a trophy drought stretching back four months to Roland Garros.
Berdych will play a Saturday semi-final against either Serb Novak Djokovic or Chile's tenth seed Fernando Gonzalez.
Organisers had been hoping for an all-star Sunday final between Nadal and Roger Federer.
Federer did his part in style, turning in a steady if unspectacular performance to dismiss American Robby Ginepri 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) in their quarter-final.
The world number one will face off Saturday in his 13th match against David Nalbandian, who defeated 2004 winner Marat Safin 6-4, 6-7 (6/8), 7-6 (7/2) in a marathon of nearly three hours.
Nadal's exit left the tournament deflated as Berdych became only the fourth player to have beaten him three times after Lleyton Hewitt, Dominik Hrbary and Gaston Gaudio.
The Spaniard failed on his two break points in the match while Berdych advanced to his fourth semi-final of the season.
Nalbandian and Federer will face a replay of the Masters Cup final in Shanghai won 11 months ago by the Argentine in a fifth-set fight back.
The Swiss has since beaten the South American twice on clay this season by way of payback.
Nalbandian admitted that achieving his goal of winning against Federer is a tall order.
"It will be very tough. Every time we play each other, it's very close, a very tough match."
Federer calmly won his 80th match of the season against just five defeats as he put out Ginepri.
"I've walked off the court 80 times as a winner this season, only five times as a loser," he said. "That's a great record for me.
"I'm really proud of those last two years now. The 80 is not more special than 70 or 90, but it's a great number to reach."
Victory nudged Nalbandian past No. 7 Tommy Robredo and No. 6 James Blake in the standings for the eight-man Masters Cup season-ender in Shanghai next month.
His injury-plagued opponent Safin had come on strong in recent weeks, winning 15 of his previous 20 matches.
He played the final in Moscow last week and was bidding for his first Masters Series semi-final since Paris in 2004.
The Russian won the Madrid title the last time he played here two years ago when he did the Madrid-Paris double.
"I'm actually more happy than frustrated because it's already my fifth week," said Safin who has been feeling his way back after a lengthy absence through injury.
"Even though I had my chances, it didn't work my way. Before the US Open I was 104 in the world, now I'm fighting for the top 30."