Rafa Nadal produced vintage form against an out-of-sorts Roger Federer to crush the Swiss 6-4 6-2 in their heavily-anticipated quarter-final at the BNP Paribas Open on Thursday.

The Spanish left-hander, competing in his first hardcourt event since returning from seven months on the sidelines with a knee injury, moved around the court well and outplayed his long-time rival at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

Nadal broke the defending champion once in the first set and three times in the second to wrap up victory in one hour 24 minutes in front of a packed house at the Stadium Court.

The Spanish world number five improved his record against Federer to 19-10 and will next face Tomas Berdych, who beat Kevin Anderson 6-4 6-4.

“After seven months away, I am very happy to be in the semi-finals here,” a beaming Nadal said after taking advantage of a slew of backhand errors by Federer.

“I played a fantastic first set, in my opinion. The second set I think Roger didn’t fight as usual. Probably he had some problems and he didn’t feel comfortable enough to keep fighting.”

With a near-capacity crowd eagerly watching, the opening set went with serve until the seventh game when Nadal broke Federer with a stunning crosscourt backhand pass to lead 4-3.

Federer saved two set points on his serve in a protracted ninth game but the Spaniard served out in the 10th, taking the set when a return by the Swiss sailed wide.

Moving much more fluently than his opponent and finding his range with searing crosscourt forehands, Nadal led 3-0 in the second set.

Urged on by the crowd, the Swiss immediately rebounded by breaking Nadal’s serve for the first time in the match, then held for 2-3.

However, with Federer continuing to make unforced errors, the Spaniard again broke in the seventh game before serving out for the match in the eighth.