Gonzalez to meet Federer in Madrid Masters final

MADRID: Tenth seed Gonzalez reached his first Masters Series final on Saturday when he romped to a 6-3 6-1 victory over Tomas Berdych who was unable to cope with the hostile home crowd.   

The Czech number one folded under the pressure, while Gonzalez gave him no respite as he pounded him with his pin-point serve and wrapped up victory in 52 minutes.   

"I've never seen anything like it; it's like a (bad) dream. It's not a tennis crowd," Berdych said.   

Gonzalez admitted the crowd's behaviour had worked in his favour, but said he was delighted with his performance.   

"I think it's really tough to go in and get that sort of reception from a crowd of 10,000 people," he said. "I was lucky the crowd were with me. I played an unbelievable match."   

Berdych beat defending champion and local hero Rafael Nadal in the quarters, provoking the anger of the world number two and local fans when he put his finger to his lips to silence a raucous home crowd after he won the match.   

The crowd vented their anger more once when the Czech walked on to court on Saturday, jeering his every move, whistling as he began serving and cheering when he opened with a double fault.   

The 21-year-old was clearly rattled and dropped his serve in the opening game, while Gonzalez grew in confidence as he enjoyed the support from the crowd, breaking again in the ninth to take the first set.   

Gonzalez, who had beaten the Czech on their previous two meetings, kept him on the rack in the second to storm to an easy victory.