Andy Murray laments poor serving in heavy defeat to Rafael Nadal

Rafael Nadal upset second-seeded Andy Murray 6-4, 6-1 on Wednesday to improve to 2-0 in group play and clinch a spot in the semifinals of the Barclays ATP World Finals at the O2 Arena in London.

With the win, the Spaniard also qualified for the semi-finals of the season ending tournament, one of the few big titles he is yet to win, thanks to Stan Wawrinka’s straight sets win over David Ferrer in the Group Ilie Nastase second match of the day.

Wawrinka was heavily criticised for his performance against Rafael Nadal on Monday, but he recovered from 5-2 down in the opening set against Ferrer to win 7-5 6-2.

Murray will still advance to the last four should he beat Wawrinka in his last group match on Friday.

Murray overcame Nadal in the Madrid Masters final back in May, but was second best in London as he failed to secure a victory that would have ensured he finishes the year as the world number two for the first time. “He played more aggressive than me”.

Nadal slipped past Murray in the closely fought first set before dominating the second to win it 6-4 6-1.

In the second set, Murray made 16 unforced errors to Nadal’s three and won just 10 percent of the points on his second serve as the Spaniard raced away with the match.

It was a straight shoot-out for a place in the semi-finals and Murray and Peers looked poised for victory at 9-5 in the first-to-10 deciding match tie-break.

The 30-year-old Swiss trails 8-6 in career meetings with Murray but they have not played since 2013, since when Wawrinka has won Grand Slam titles in Australia and earlier this year in France. “Also I didn’t help myself out there”, he explained.

Nadal has struggled with injuries in recent years but appears to be returning to top form against the elite players in the game. “I am playing more inside [the baseline], I am working hard to make that happen”. I was up 5-3 to win the set and I did mistakes, important mistakes.

“I started the match extremely well, I think”.

“It was a tough battle”, said Wawrinka. Ferrer’s impressive court coverage continued and though he successfully served to stay in the tournament, he was powerless to prevent Wawrinka powering to victory from his third match point which propels new impetus into his campaign.

During the summer, the 30-year-old Nadal didn’t go deep in the hard courts, but in the fall, he began to turn it around.

And historically, that is enough for Rafa to beat just about anyone.