Nadal beats Murray in straight sets

The British No 1 tackles Wawrinka in a straight shoot-out for a last four clash with Roger Federer, who yesterday made it three wins out of three in his round robin group with a 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 victory over Kei Nishikori.

“Obviously I lost comfortably to Rafa and I could play him in a couple days’ time and it could be a different story”, said Murray. “He’s clearly playing better tennis now than a few months ago”. It’s always hard to play David and I’m really happy. But Murray was far from his best, struggling with a low first serve percentage and high error count.

“From the middle till the end of the second set, he played extremely well, ” Murray said.

Murray must now beat Stan Wawrinka to advance to the semi-final stage of the season finale.

It didn’t prove to be much help, though, with Murray going on to lose a tight opening set before being blown away in the second, as Nadal secured a 6-4, 6-1 victory at the World Tour Finals. When Murray missed the first serve of the following point, a fan in the crowd, presumably in favor of Nadal, shouted out “cinco” to note it was his fifth straight fault.

He said: “If it itches too much, I’ll take it off. If my girls can’t stand it, I’ll take it off. If I look in the mirror and I don’t like it, I’ll take it off. Maybe I’ll think of Santa and keep it. It’s around the corner”.

Focusing on the ATP World Finals may not have topped his list last week as Andy Murray practiced and played on clay last week in preparation for the Davis Cup next week.

The 30-year-old carried that momentum into the 2nd set, service breaks in the 1st and 5th games leading him to victory, his career-best 54th of the season.

With his movement tentative and his confidence at a low ebb, Nadal was humiliated by Novak Djokovic in the French Open quarter-finals – a tournament he had ruled for a decade.

If Wawrinka wins or Ferrer wins in three sets, Nadal will book his spot in the final four. He lost 7-5 6-2.

Both players averaged 74 miles per hour (mph) off their forehand side, with Murray’s backhand averaging 69 mph to Nadal’s 67 mph. Although I got broken in the second game, I was hitting the ball well. It was the Spaniard who started strong, breaking Wawrinka in the fourth game, but the two-time Grans Slam champion broke Ferrer in subsequent games in the ninth and 11th to wrap up the first set.

“I don’t know why such minor things make such a big deal”, said Murray, who plays Stan Wawrinka in his last group game on Friday and can still progress.