Madrid Open 2012 Scores: Complete Recap of Thursday's Action

After Thursday's action at the 2012 Mutua Madrid Open, much focus has been moved away from the world tennis stars and geared toward the controversial surface upon which they're playing.

The blue clay surface has drawn the ire of many top players, including Spanish countryman Rafael Nadal. He blamed his stunning third-round upset on the slippery clay and indicated he wouldn't be back with the current surface in place, according to xinhuanet.com.

He lost to fellow Spaniard Fernando Velasco, who snapped a 13-game losing streak against Nadal. Velasco is slated to face No. 6 seed and Czech star Tomas Berdych in the quarterfinals. 

Nadal's upset (and comments) took the headlines from Thursday's action at the Madrid Masters, but that was just the beginning of a stellar day of tennis. 

The tennis world waited to see how top-seeded Novak Djokovic would respond to his second-round bout with Daniel Gimeno-Traver that went the full three sets. It got its answer Thursday, as Djokovic cruised into the quarterfinals with a 7-6, 6-4 victory over Stanislas Wawrinka. 

"The Djoker" will play No. 7 seed Janko Tipsarevic in Friday's quarterfinal. 

Swiss great Roger Federer had little trouble advancing to the quarterfinals Thursday as he took down Richard Gasquet 6-3, 6-2.

Federer has seen his dominance in the sport diminish, as Djokovic and Nadal have stolen the spotlight recently. With Nadal's loss, Federer can retake the No. 2 ATP world ranking from Nadal if he wins the tournament. 

Perhaps Spain's best chance to win its own tournament this weekend is from No. 5 seed David Ferrer, who dodged a third-round upset to advance Thursday over Nicolas Almagro. He'll have to go through Federer to advance to the semifinals. 

No. 4 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga's upset at the hands of Ukrainian stud Alexandr Dolgopolov takes most of the top seeds out of the bottom half of the tournament bracket. Barring any big upsets, Djokovic or Federer will face off against either sixth-seeded Berdych or a double-digit seed.

The Tsonga-Dolgopolov match may have been the most exciting of the day, as the final set was extended to a tiebreak, which the Ukrainian dominated en route to the quarterfinals.

Can Djokovic continue his dominance as the top seed and keep on his collision course for a semifinal showdown against Federer? Stay tuned to Bleacher Report all day for updates on Friday's tournament action.