The Argentinian edged Russia's Spanish-speaking Marat Safin 6-4, 6-7 (6/8), 7-6 (7/2) in just under three hours to make the last four but found himself losing the popularity contest for the second day in succession.
His 6-2, 2-6, 7-5 win over Henman was marred by a slanging match over controversial service calls and the muscular Argentinian characterised the Briton's gentleman image as “rubbish.”
Henman responded: “He questioned my sportsmanship, but if we go down that road there is only going to be one winner.” On Friday, the Argentine fourth seed was roundly jeered at every opportunity by a Madrid crowd favouring the charasmatic Safin.The challenger, a former world No. 1, was denied a match point by the slimmest of margins in the 12th game of the final set as what looked like a screaming pass down the line was shown by the Hawk-eye computer to have been wide by a thread.
The setback set off the jeers of fans, which Nalbandian ignored, winning the game for 6-all to force a tiebreaker.
In the second decider of a long afternoon, the Argentine took the lead in the decider, 4-0.
A tiring Safin netted to yield four match points, with Nalbandian converting on the first.
Safin ran hot and cold on the day, firing 21 aces but unable to maintain consistency in his game. He converted on only three of ten break point chances.
Safin came into the contest with a 6-1 margin over Nalbandian, including a thrilling five-set win decided by a tiebreak in the second round of the US Open last month.
Victory nudged Nalbandian past No. 7 Tommy Robredo and No. 6 James Blake in the standings for the eight-man Masters Cup season-ender.
The injury-plagued Safin had come on strong in recent weeks, winning 15 of his previous 20 matches. He played the final in Moscow last week and was bidding for his first Masters Series semi-final since Paris Bercy in 2004.
Safin won the Madrid title the last time he played here two years ago as he did the Madrid-Paris double.
Roger Federer, already qualified for Shanghai, was playing a quarter-final against Robby Ginepri later Friday while defending champion Rafael Nadal was to face Czech Tomas Berdych.
Quarter-final result:
David Nalbandian (ARG x4) bt Marat Safin (RUS) 6-4, 6-7 (6/8), 7-6 (7/2).
SHARAPOVA, SREBOTNIK IN ZURICH SEMIS
Zurich: Maria Sharapova will play unseeded Slovenian Katarina Srebotnik in the semi-finals of the Zurich Open after both secured straight-set victories on Friday.
Second-seeded Sharapova had little difficulty against Swiss wild card Timea Bacsinszky, winning 6-4 6-3, and Srebotnik defeated Russia's Maria Kirilenko 6-3 6-2.
The second semi-final will be between unseeded Slovak Daniela Hantuchova and either third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova or fifth seed Martina Hingis, who were playing later on Friday.
Hantuchova reached the semi-finals with a walkover after top seed Amelie Mauresmo withdrew on Thursday with a shoulder injury.
Sharapova was rarely troubled by Bacsinszky. A break in the opening game was enough to decide the first set, although Sharapova also held a break point for 3-0 and three set points on her opponent's serve at 5-3.
Sharapova also broke at the start of the second set, but had to hold off two break points in the next game and failed to take a 3-0 lead when Bacsinszky saved a break point with an ace.
Sharapova then surrendered her serve with a forehand error, but a double-fault gave her a further break for 4-2.
Srebotnik saved two break points against Kirilenko at 1-1, and then took the set after breaking on her third set point to lead 5-3.
In the second set, Srebotnik breaking for 1-0 when Kirilenko double-faulted, but giving up her serve to love in the next game.
Srebotnik broke again for 2-1 and needed to fight off two break points for 2-2. And even when she broke again to serve for the match at 5-2.
Results:
Quarter-finals - Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) bt Amelie Mauresmo (FRA x1) Katarina Srebotnik (SLO) bt Maria Kirilenko (RUS) 6-3, 6-2; Maria Sharapova (RUS x2) bt Timea Bacsinszky (SUI) 6-4, 6-3.—Agencies