World No.1 and defending champion - Novak Djokovic is poised to lock horns with good friend Janko Tipsarevic in the quarterfinals of the  Madrid Masters.

Nole has had a tremendous year so far and has already won the Aussie Open and the Miami Masters. After an unbelievable season last year, the Serb has not stopped and is still firing on all cylinders. Djokovic comes into the tournament as the defending champion and top seed. The Madrid Masters are now being built as as a battle between Roger Federer and Djokovic after the Spaniard was knocked out by Fernando Verdasco yesterday. The Serb skipped his home ATP event - the Serbia Open, sighting the passing away of his grandfather as his reason for it. Djokovic also said the same at Monte Carlo after being beaten by Nadal claiming he had 'no energy'. Here in Madrid, Djokovic made bad weather of relatively unknown Daniel Gimeno-Traver in his first match as he struggled through by beating the Spaniard 6-2,2-6,6-3. He regained some composure in the next round and beat Stanislas Wawrinka in two sets 7-6,6-4. His win/loss record at this year stands at 26/3 and is the overwhelming favorite to win this match.

After starting the year as the World No.9, Tipsarevic has improved his rank by one and is now the World No.8. As his climb indicates, the mercurial Serbian has finally started to get some consistency in his game. He started his year at the Chennai Open where he was defeated by Milos Raonic in a fiercely fought three setter that lasted more than 3 hours. His show at the Australian Open however, was disappointing and he was knocked out in the third round itself. In February in Marseille, Tipsarevic reached the semifinal of the event. He also reached the quarterfinals in Dubai and Miami. At the recently concluded Barceloa Open, he was defeated in the quarterfinals by eventual champion and king of clay Nadal in two sets. His win-loss record this year is at 22-9, and he would be bidding to win his first title of the year.

In the five matches that they have played against one another, the World No.1 leads by 4 wins to 1.

TennisEarth pick: Djokovic to prevail in straight sets.