Rafael Nadal defeated Andy Murray in four sets Saturday night to advance to the Final of the US Open tennis tournament. This sets up a rematch of the 2010 US Open Final between Nadal and Novak Djokovic, which Nadal won in four sets.
Nadal took the first two sets; Murray fought back to take the third started strong in the fourth, banging out serves up to 134 mph and hitting winners to both courts. For every winner, however Murray hit an error, while Nadal played near-perfect defense.
Fitness and focus were the Spanish champion’s edge.
“The beginning of the fourth was very important because Andy had a tougher match, yesterday, than me,” Nadal told CBS Sports. “He had break point at the beginning of the fourth so I saved that. And after that I think I started to play more aggressive.
“I think I played my best match of this year, here. I am very happy to be in the final.”
The defending champion broke Murray’s serve in the fourth game of the set, forced him to fight off three break points in the sixth; Nadal’s defense stayed nearly flawless while Murray couldn’t find the court with a first serve.
Murray began clutching his lower back between points; injured or just sore, he looked a little ragged, while his opponent looked fresh.
Murray went down at love in his final service game, unable to score on his own serve. Nadal looked like classic Nadal, running around forehands and blasting them back to the baseline covering the court side-to-side, while making few mistakes.
Nadal took the first two sets; Murray fought back to take the third started strong in the fourth, banging out serves up to 134 mph and hitting winners to both courts. For every winner, however Murray hit an error, while Nadal played near-perfect defense.
Fitness and focus were the Spanish champion’s edge.
“The beginning of the fourth was very important because Andy had a tougher match, yesterday, than me,” Nadal told CBS Sports. “He had break point at the beginning of the fourth so I saved that. And after that I think I started to play more aggressive.
“I think I played my best match of this year, here. I am very happy to be in the final.”
The defending champion broke Murray’s serve in the fourth game of the set, forced him to fight off three break points in the sixth; Nadal’s defense stayed nearly flawless while Murray couldn’t find the court with a first serve.
Murray began clutching his lower back between points; injured or just sore, he looked a little ragged, while his opponent looked fresh.
Murray went down at love in his final service game, unable to score on his own serve. Nadal looked like classic Nadal, running around forehands and blasting them back to the baseline covering the court side-to-side, while making few mistakes.
