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Cape Town - South African tennis star Kevin Anderson has made history by reaching the semi-finals of a Masters 1000 event for the first time.
This comes after Anderson defeated Serbia's Dusan Lajovic 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-3 in the Madrid Masters quarter-finals on Friday.
It was 11th time lucky for Anderson after he had lost all 10 of his previous quarter-finals at Masters 1000 level - the ATP events rated just below the Grand Slams.
The world No 8 is however likely to face a more daunting task in the semi-finals.
A last-four match-up against world No 1 Rafael Nadal - the man who beat Anderson in last year's US Open final - possibly lies in wait.
Nadal faces fifth seeded Dominic Thiem in the quarter-finals later on Friday and it's hard to see the Austrian upsetting the King of Clay.
Nadal has won his last 50 sets on clay - a new ATP record - and looks unstoppable on the surface.
Anderson has never beaten Nadal in five prior meetings.
Results from the ATP/WTA Madrid Open on Friday (x denotes seeding):
Men
Quarter-finals
Kevin Anderson (RSA x6) bt Dusan Lajovic (SRB) 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-3
Women
Semi-finals
Kiki Bertens (NED) bt Caroline Garcia (FRA x7) 6-2, 6-2
