Clay-court expert Rafael Nadal eased into the last four of the Madrid Open with a 6-3 6-4 win over Grigor Dimitrov.

Double defending champion Nadal, who has reached the final on five of the last six occasions at this ATP Masters 1000 event, will now face Tomas Berdych, who battled back to defeat John Isner 3-6 7-6 (9-7) 7-6 (7-1).

World number four Nadal put Dimitrov under severe pressure in the opening game of the match, but the Bulgarian managed to save three break points before eventually holding serve.

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The pair traded breaks in games three and four, but Nadal edged ahead as more excellent returning helped him set up a 4-2 advantage.

At 5-3 down, Dimitrov rescued two set points on his own serve, but it was third time lucky for Nadal as he moved ahead in the match to leave his opponent with a mountain to climb.

The 10th seed made a strong start to the second set and moved 3-1 up, but from that point on Nadal showed his class, reeling off five of the next six games to seal victory and book his semi-final berth.

"Overall I'm satisfied; I'm happy," Nadal said. "I have made it to the semi-finals, and I think that's a great result for me, especially after losing in Barcelona the way I did.

"My goal is [to] feel myself playing better every day. That's my real goal. Then obviously, the goal is always the same, [to] try to have the [best] result possible."

The four-time champion will now take on 2012 runner-up Berdych who, after losing the first set to Isner, saved a match point at 6-5 down in the second-set tie break before forcing a decider.

The third went entirely with the serve but Isner, who knocked out Roger Federer's conqueror Nick Kyrgios in the previous round, was no match for Berdych in the final breaker as the Czech prevailed after almost two and a quarter hours.

Murray beats Raonic

World number three Andy Murray reached the semi-finals of Madrid Open for the first time on clay after overcoming a hobbled Milos Raonic 6-4, 7-5.

Raonic was playing in his first tournament since pulling out of the Monte Carlo Masters with a right foot problem and seemed to still be struggling as one break in each set was enough to secure Murray's place in the last four.

The Scot, who won his first ever clay court tournament earlier this week in Munich, will face either Kei Nishikori or David Ferrer in Saturday's semi-finals.

It will be Murray's 23rd appearance in a Masters-level tournament.