It was not the worst of weeks in Madrid for Andy Murray but as the new world No.2 packed his bags and headed for the Italian Open in Rome, he knew that it was an opportunity missed.

The Scot was beaten 7-6, 6-4 by Tomas Berdych in the quarter-finals of the Mutua Madrid Open last night – and that will not sit well with him.

Sure enough, he has banked 180 ranking points while world No.1 Novak Djokovic has lost 135, but Murray could have done so much better. Yet the Scot has not been anywhere near his best all week and last night he was made to pay a heavy price for that.

It is one thing to struggle past the world No.26 Florian Mayer and the world No.17 Gilles Simon on a surface you are not completely comfortable with, but taking on the likes of Berdych – the sixth best player in the world and runner up on the very same court 12 months ago – requires a little bit more than just sheer cussedness.

Despite the fact that he had a gruelling night on Thursday and would not have got to sleep much before 4am, Murray certainly looked brighter and more motivated than he had against Simon in the previous round. Still, there was a nagging doubt about his overall fitness; his left hip appeared to be causing him problems and there was a fear that his back may have been giving him gyp. The backhand was not its usual, reliable self, while his returns – usually his most potent weapon – were not hitting the mark.

Berdych has the reputation of being something of a fragile soul – give him a winning lead and he has a tendency to panic and run in the opposite direction – but coming into last night's match with a 4-4 career record with the Scot, the world No.6 could rest easy. He has now beaten Murray in each of their last three clay court encounters. Smiling at some of Murray's delicate drop shots and then serving his way out trouble on numerous break points, Berdych seemed to be relaxing into the role of Madrid semi-finalist elect.

The pattern was set in the first set when, a break to the good, Murray dropped his serve in an eight-minute game and Berdych was back on level terms at 4-4. "It's impossible to play like this," the Scot muttered to himself. After little more than two hours of frustration on the centre court, he was proved right.

At least he refrained from hitting himself in the face with his own racket. That was left to Rafa Nadal, although the Spaniard regained his composure in time to see off compatriot David Ferrer 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-0 to reach the semi-finals.

Nadal had a scare when leading 4-0 in the third set when his racket bounced up off the court as he was stretching down to play a shot and struck him above the eye. After a brief interruption he was able to continue and closed out the victory on his first match point when he broke Ferrer for a seventh time. "I think maybe David deserved more than me to be in the semi-finals but that's sport for you," said Nadal.

There might have been a similar sentiment hanging over the court on which women's world No.1 Serena Williams was given her first serious test yesterday. The American was subjected to a merciless 6-0 mauling in the second set but was still able to scramble into the semi-finals with a 6-3, 0-6, 7-5 victory over Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues. Williams will meet Sara Errani, the seventh-seeded Italian, in the next round.

The last time Williams lost a set to love was in November 2008 against her sister Venus, at the WTA Championships in Qatar. "I wasn't really there," she said. "I wasn't really in it. My feet weren't moving. I don't know what happened."

She is joined in the semi-finals by Maria Sharapova after the Russian defeated the unseeded Estonian Kaia Kanepi 6-2, 6-4. "I was just happy to get past the quarter-finals," said Sharapova. "I feel like I've been stuck in this tournament."