Juan Martin del Potro: The silent assassin who spoils Andy Murray's birthday

I'm not sure if you realised that Juan Martin del Potro is already ranked at no. 5.

It's okay if you don't because at times I thought this Argentine talent was still in the top 20.

After defeating birthday boy Andy Murray 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 at the Madrid Masters yesterday, there were two things on my mind: Andy Murray still has a long way to go before he can master the clay court or del Potro is on the surge to become one of the top 3 players in the world.

The slow and steady del Potro will now try to end a four-match losing streak against Roger Federer.

“I hope I have a good start against Roger tomorrow," said del Potro, who was bageled twice by Federer at this year's Australian Open quarterfinal match.

In another semifinal match, Rafael Nadal will face off with Novak Djokovic.

(Images by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

Caroline Wozniacki invited to Fernando Verdasco's family dinner in Madrid

I first read about this at loltennis.

In her blog, Caroline Wozniacki wrote about being invited to dinner by Fernando Verdasco and his family in Madrid this week.

According to Wozniacki, it was a typical Spanish restaurant with a flamenco dance performance on stage while enjoying the food.

Wozniacki praised the fantastic food and the great entertainment.

She then revealed the name of the restaurant is Cafe the Chinitas which was situated on a street called Torija at the heart of Madrid.

Wonziacki highly recommend the restaurant!

Looks like she enjoyed the outing with Verdasco and his family that she didn't even mind mentioning about it in her blog.

The rumour between Fernando Verdasco and Caroline Wozniacki first sparked off at Indian Wells earlier this year.

Let's wait and see if there's any progress in their 'friendship'.

Rafael Nadal owns the stage; A magical Madrid Masters final is not very far

He works hard on the court. And at times he's quite lucky too..

Rafael Nadal was handed a walkover into the quartersfinals at the Madrid Masters yesterday when his third-round opponent Philipp Kohlschreiber was forced out of the claycourt event with a left leg injury.

Nadal is now bidding for a sixth title of the season and a fourth on clay.

Seriously, there's no better place to make it happen that at the Magic Box!

(Images by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

Rafael Nadal: The crowd-puller who didn't pull the ball girl to safety

If you're a Rafael Nadal, then you'll be guaranteed a sold-out crowd.

Playing in front of his homecrowd in his opening match in Madrid, Nadal had quite a number of VIPs who came to watch him play - Spanish Queen Sofia, Madrid mayor Alberto Ruiz Gallardon, former Spanish tennis player Manolo Santana, football star Raul, Real Madrid coach Juande Ramos and film director Pedro Almodovar.

Rafael Nadal powered into the third round of the Madrid Open after a convincing 6-3, 6-1 win over Jurgen Melzer.

During the match, one of the Madrid ball girl fainted and was brought to safety by a security guard.

I bet she was in shock because her rescuer didn't turn out to be Nadal :D

(Images via Yahoo! Sports)