Nadal now holds a 9-0 career record over Stanislas Wawrinka, after a 6-2, 6-4 win.

The title is Serena Williams' 50th of her singles career and extends her amazing run over Sharapova who she hasn't lost to in 12 meetings since 2004.

Of the three leading seeds at the event, which begins on Sunday at the picturesque Foro Italico, only number three Murray lasted until the quarter-finals in Madrid last week.

World number 113 Andujar was blown away by compatriot Nadal 6-0, 6-4 on Saturday.

Sharapova will compete in her first Madrid final after beating Serbian Ana Ivanovic 6-4, 6-3 while Williams sealed her place as she overcame seventh seed Sara Errani 7-5, 6-2 on Saturday.

Serena Williams was also happier with her performance against Sara Errani in the semis than the error-strewn display she produced against Spanish wildcard Anabel Medina Garrigues in the quarter-finals.

An off-colour Indian team squandered all the six points it earned in the second set to suffer a 2-6 4-6 defeat against the French-Polish combo in the quarter-finals of the euro 4,303,867 clay court tournament.

Ferrer is currently ahead of the 11-time Grand Slam champion in the world rankings due to Nadal's seventh month layoff in the second-half of last season.

Despite losing the second set 0-6, Serena Williams withstood a sterling effort from 30-year-old wildcard Anabel Medina Garrigues to book her place in the Madrid Open semi-finals.

Leander and Melzer were off-colour today as Haas-Stepanek pair broke their service on four occasions which was testimony to the supremacy of the German-Czech duo.