Nadal proves a match too far for weary Murray

TO HAVE a hope of beating Rafael Nadal you have to be at your very best. Even then, if the world No 2 is close to the top of his own game, your hopes are generally faint ones.

Nadal was certainly near his best on Centre Court last night, while Andy Murray was some way off his. The outcome was a 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 defeat for the Scot in his first grand slam quarter-final. Nadal was faster, stronger, fiercer than the No 12 seed, for whom this was simply a match too far.

In 2006, Murray lost in the fourth round after an exhilarating yet also tiring win over Andy Roddick. This year, he lost in the last eight following a draining fourth-round five-setter against Richard Gasquet.

The first set was worryingly reminiscent for Murray's supporters of the opening of that previous match. Nadal, like the Frenchman, was quickly up and running, whereas the Scot was taking longer to find his rhythm. Murray can often use his tactical nous effectively against more dynamic opponents, but Nadal was simply too fast and too good.

Like a chess player who opens up the board as soon as possible, the Spaniard brought much of his weaponry into play in the first game. A whipped forehand followed by a drop shot gave him his second point, another drop shot his third, and of course there was his serve, which had Murray on the back foot most of the time.

The No 2 seed won that opening game without dropping a point, and continued in like manner. Murray managed to win only three points against the Nadal serve in the first set, and what made that fact all the more disconcerting was his failure to achieve anything like the same dominance on his own serve.

He held with not too much trouble at first, but immediately made life difficult for himself in the sixth game when he skied a shot to go 15-0 down. He got back on terms at 15-15, but then double-faulted – an error which Nadal exploited with a clever drop shot on the next point.

Faced with two break points, the British No 1 held his nerve to save both, the second thanks to an unforced error from Nadal. Another mistake from the Majorcan gave Murray game point, and although he was unable to take that chance to close to 3-3, two points later he was level.

With Nadal rattling through his own service games so swiftly, however, the pressure was almost unremitting for Murray. He had hardly had time to draw breath at the end of that sixth game than he was stepping up to serve again at 3-4, and this time too he put himself under pressure. On the second point a firm drive would have put Murray 30-0 ahead, but instead he opted for a drop shot which fell softly into the net.

Nadal took control of the game from that point, and although Murray saved one break point, he lost the second when he smashed a return long.

The second set also brought echoes of the Gasquet match, with Murray going a break down early on, though this time at 2-1 rather than 2-0. But there were a couple of crucial differences between this quarter-final and that fourth-round tie. One, Murray's energy reserves had been depleted by that four-hour battle on Monday night, and two, Nadal is a far tougher adversary than Gasquet.

There are many sporting contests in which an individual or team taking a hammering can sensibly tell themselves to hang on in and their chance will come. If you are up against someone who is excelling themselves, you can normally expect their level to drop.

But Nadal is different. Nadal is relentless. The odd minor error turns up as a reminder that he is mortal, but the consistency of his aggression is almost unmatched in sport at present.

To have even a slight chance of withstanding it, you have to be playing at your best, and Murray was some way from doing that. In the first set, 56 per cent of his first serves were in, a figure which was a bit below what he needed: in the second, it dropped to an alarming 29.

It was hardly surprising, then, that, although he held his first game after being broken, he was then broken a second time in the set to fall 5-2 behind. To the surprise of no-one, Nadal served out for a two-set lead.

Murray stopped the rot, as he had to, with an easy hold in the first game of the third set, and in fact played most of his best tennis of the match in that game and the next four.

But then, in the seventh game, so often the point upon which a set turns, Murray's concentration lapsed. He was 30-0 and 40-15 up, only to throw in three unforced errors. The last, a shot into the net on game point, was probably the result of tightness setting in as he realised he was effectively on his last chance.

Once he was 4-3 up, Nadal knew he was in the home straight. All he had to do was maintain his form for a few games more, and with less than two hours played he had no problem in doing that.

Murray succeeded in staying in the match just that little bit longer when he served at 3-5 down, but moments later his challenge was over. He will be back. But so will Nadal.

Drop shot abandoned but first serve and unforced errors contribute to Scot's downfall
ANALYSIS: ALAN PATTULLO

AFTER Andy Murray's sensational comeback to beat Richard Gasquet in the fourth round at Wimbledon, all eyes last night were on how he would cope with aspects of his game that could be exploited by Rafael Nadal.

DROP SHOT

Murray shied away from this tactic and no wonder. One failed attempt in the eighth game of the first set can be regarded as the signal that this was not to be his day. At 15-all he attempted what looked like a straightforward clip across the net, with Nadal stranded. But the Scot sent it weakly into the net and the pressure was on. Nadal went on to break Murray for the first time.

FIRST SERVE

The percentages say it all here. Murray managed to get only 49 per cent of his serves in compared to Nadal, who scored a 62 per cent success rate. Power was not the problem for the Scot, who averaged 117 mph on his first serves. But accuracy meant that much of what he sent down towards his opponent was treated as meat and drink by the Spaniard, whose own serves jumped up at Murray at awkward angles thanks to his excellent deployment of spin.

SECOND SERVE

Nadal returned serve incredibly effectively and got his tactics spot on. Murray's second serve has been identified as his main weakness and while Nadal stood behind the baseline to return the Scot's first serve he positioned himself well inside the baseline for his second serve in order to take it as early as possible. Again, though, power was not Murray's main problem here, with his second serve averaging 91mph to Nadal's 95mph. But a more telling statistic is points lost on serve – 46 per cent compared to just 15 per cent for Nadal.

STAMINA & STRENGTH

Murray looked ragged from the off. Nadal had him chasing back and forward, and appeared to deliberately aim for the corners in order to maximise his opponent's discomfort. Much of Murray's weariness can be traced back to Monday night's clash with Richard Gasquet, when the Scot was on court for just short of four hours. Last night he appeared to display the effects of this exertion. Against someone like Nadal one needs to be in peak condition, and Murray clearly was not. But he battled gamely, and the last set – where he won four games – was evidence of this. But he looked a spent force at the end. Although clearly in better physical condition than ever before, much work has still to be done in this department.

UNFORCED ERRORS

A critical double fault to lose his own service game in the third game of the second set proved impossible to recover from. It gave Nadal a 2-1 lead, and in the form he was in last night he never looked like he might throw away this advantage. Too many returns went out, and a straightforward smash which Murray sent into the net summed up his evening.