Murray shows Nadal no mercy

Published on Monday 10 October 2011 00:36

Andy Murray reduced Rafa Nadal’s granite-like resistance to rubble as he stunned the Spaniard 3-6, 6-2, 6-0 to capture the Japan Open last night, then went on to complete a memorable day’s work in front of a delighted Tokyo crowd when he returned to the court with brother Jamie to take the doubles title.

It was the Scot’s second title in two weeks, after he won in Bangkok, and ended Nadal’s bid to become the first man since Pete Sampras in 1993-94 to retain the Tokyo crown.

“I played some great tennis, especially in the third set,” Murray said after inflicting a “bagel” on Nadal in the decider to win his 20th career title.

“It was the best tennis I’ve played against Rafa,” added the Scot, who had lost 13 of his previous 17 matches against the world No 2.

Murray, who has won 21 of his last 22 matches, will wish he could bottle the magic he produced in a fine third set, when he dropped just four points.

“To only lose four points – and against Rafa – will never happen again,” he said. “I’ve hit the ball like that before but for such a long period, that’s definitely the first time.

“I’ve given myself the target of ending the year at number three [in the world] so hopefully I can carry on that form.”

Murray, who can close the gap on Roger Federer further in Shanghai next week, returned to court after a quick rubdown to win the doubles with Jamie, beating Polish pair Frantisek Cermak and Filip Polasek 6-1, 6-4.

It was the first time in Murray’s career he has reached the singles and doubles finals at the same ATP World Tour event and he becomes the first player on the tour this year to have completed the double at a tournament,

“Winning with my brother makes it the perfect week,” he said, the singles trophy gleaming beside him.

Top seed Nadal took the first set on a superb lunging volley, but Murray hit back brilliantly, breaking for 3-1 in the second with a rifled forehand into the corner.

Murray, accused in the past of having a “glass jaw”, nervelessly saved triple break point in the next game with aces to leave Nadal shaking his head in disbelief.

The second seed, who had been screaming at himself and pointing furiously at his box in the first set, levelled the match with a bullet backhand that Nadal could only dump into the net.

Nadal’s game unravelled and the 10-times grand slam champion wore the look of a tortured man in the final set as Murray caught fire, ripping winner after winner past him.

Nadal overtook world number one Novak Djokovic for most match wins this year with his 65th in his semi-final victory over Mardy Fish, but he had no answer to Murray’s power.

Fans of Nadal, many draped in Spanish flags and some in red-and-yellow, afro-style wigs, fell silent as Murray tore through the decider in 29 minutes.

Murray set up triple match point with a rocket forehand down the line before forcing Nadal into a loose backhand to end a pulsating final after two hours, 16 minutes.

“Andy played unbelievable. He deserves the title,” said Nadal, playing his first tournament since helping Spain to reach the Davis Cup final last month.

“I’ve lost a few sets 6-0 of course. You prefer it doesn’t happen, but he played fantastic and in the third set he started to play at a really high level. Accept. That’s it.”

The doubles triumph was the icing on the cake for Murray who combined brilliantly with his brother to win in 58 minutes. It was the pair’s first title since they won in Valencia last year.

The brothers’ serve proved to their main weapon as they clinched the silverware. Between them, the Murrays only dropped eight points on serve. They also broke serve twice to clinch the first set and broke again in the seventh game of the second set.

“It’s the second time we’ve won and he [Jamie] played great,” Andy Murray told atpworldtour.com.

“After the tough singles match earlier where there were a lot of long points, I’m glad he managed to help me out by playing really well because it would have been tough otherwise.”

Jamie added: “We started good and got an early break and gained confidence from that. The second set we had a lot of great chances, didn’t quite get it, and then the game we broke we were 0/40 up, they got back to deuce, and we managed to win it. I felt like we were in control most of the match.”

Like his brother, 25-year-old Jamie is finishing his season with a flourish. Tokyo was the doubles specialist’s second title in his past three events, having won the Moselle Open title two weeks ago in Metz with Andre Sa.