Nadal gives Murray birthday blues

Published on Thursday 15 May 2008 23:57

ANDY Murray was given a claycourt lesson by Rafael Nadal for his 21st birthday yesterday, the Scot predictably outclassed 6-3, 6-2 by the Spaniard in the last 16 at the Hamburg Masters.

Despite showing flashes of the form that enabled him to dispatch Dmitry Tursunov and Gilles Simon earlier this week, and which suggested he was getting to grips with clay, the undisputed king of the surface was simply too good.

"Nadal's forehand is the best shot in tennis," said Murray. "When you go behind against him on clay it's very hard to get back."

Murray has been working with twice French Open finalist Alex Corretja in a bid to improve his game on clay and the Scot did at least manage to put Nadal under pressure at times.

Nadal, playing with greater power and more consistency, took a 3-1 lead in the first set but had Murray taken one of two break points in game eight he might have got back into it.

Murray rallied to break Nadal at the start of the second set, but the Spaniard simply raised his game to win it straight back and the rest of the match was a bit of a stroll into the quarter-finals.

"I had more time to practise ahead of this game so I was more confident and I played a lot better," Nadal said. "I controlled the game with my forehand."

The Scot began strongly by holding serve to love in the opening game, but an horrific smash into the net set the tone for his next attempt as Nadal gratefully accepted the first of two break points.

At the same event where he badly injured his wrist last year, the Scot appeared to be troubled by a left knee problem and had no answer to his opponent's fearsome and unerringly accurate hitting.

The Spaniard had a first match point on Murray's serve in the eighth game of the second set, and although that was saved, another forehand into the net put an end to the Scot's preparations for Roland Garros.

Nadal, who has now won all three of the pair's meetings, will face compatriot Carlos Moya in the quarter-finals.

Roger Federer, seeking his fifth title in Hamburg, coasted to a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Robin Soderling. He will play Fernando Verdasco next. Novak Djokovic also advanced with a 7-6, 6-3 win over Ivo Karlovic to stay on course for consecutive titles after winning last week's Rome Masters. Djokovic could replace Nadal as No 2 in the rankings next week.

Maria Sharapova, meanwhile, will take over as world No1 next week after Justine Henin asked to be removed from the rankings following her retirement.

Henin stunned the sporting world when she announced her retirement with immediate effect on Wednesday, becoming the first woman to quit tennis while ranked No 1. The Belgian holds a commanding 1,709-point lead over Sharapova in this week's rankings. Despite retiring, the 25-year-old would have held on to the top spot for several more weeks had she not wanted her name omitted from the list. The WTA, the governing body of women's tennis, said Henin was currently in her 117th non-consecutive week in the top spot.

Sharapova battled past Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki to move into the Italian Open quarter-finals with a 6-4, 7-6 win yesterday. American fifth seed Serena Williams tamed lively Italian wildcard Sara Errani 6-4, 6-3 to join Sharapova in the last eight, while title holder Jelena Jankovic strolled past Russia's Maria Kirilenko 6-1, 6-1.

Sharapova will play Patty Schnyder in the quarter-finals after the Swiss ninth seed clinched a fine tussle with eighth-seeded Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli 4-6, 6-4, 7-6.

Bulgarian qualifier Tsvetana Pironkova, who stunned Serbian top seed Ana Ivanovic, also progressed after Belarussian Victoria Azarenka retired with a knee injury in their third round match when the former was 6-2, 1-0 up. Serena's sister Venus Williams, seeded seven, took on tenth seed Vera Zvonareva in the late match, with the winner due to face Jankovic in the last eight.