Rafael Nadal's quest to add another crown to his Masters collection continues on Saturday as he plays Tomas Berdych for a place in the final of the Cincinnati Masters.
Nadal, who recently hoisted his 25th Masters Series hardware after winning the 2013 Rogers Cup, will have a chance to nab another in Cincinnati.
Coming off a 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 victory over rival Roger Federer on Friday, Nadal will take on Tomas Berdych, who stunned Andy Murray 6-3, 6-4 in straight sets, for a place in the finals.
All of a sudden, Nadal is threatening to move up again on the ATP ladder as he's just 750 points behind Murray for the No. 2 spot. A victory in Cincinnati will give the Spaniard 1,000 points, keeping him in prime position to snatch the year-end world's No. 1 ranking from Novak Djokovic.
Djokovic is expected to keep the top spot at least for the coming week, despite suffering a 6-7, 6-3, 5-7 loss to John Isner in Friday's quarterfinal match. However, his lead is nothing near from safe from now on because of Nadal's continued dominance on the hard court.
The 27-year-old Nadal is having a phenomenal comeback from a knee injury, boasting a 51-3 win-loss record with nine singles titles. Moreover, he hasn't lost a single match on the hard court and bagged both the Indian Wells and the Rogers Cup title this year.
On the other hand, Federer is expected to slide even lower on the ATP rankings on Monday, dropping to world's No. 7.
Entering the tournament as the reigning champion, Federer had to defend 1,000 points to keep him in the top five. However, his loss to Nadal proved that he will take two spots down behind Juan Martin Del Potro and Berdych.
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