ATP World Tour Finals: Rafael Nadal outclasses Andy Murray; to meet Roger Federer in the final
Rafael Nadal gifted another dose of his sublime style of play to the world as he annihilated Andy Murray to reach the final of the ATP World Tour Finals Championship. Nadal defeated Murray 7–6, 6–3, 7–6. The semi-final between
Murray and Nadal turned out to be the most exciting and entertaining match of the event so far, as it went on for three hours and eleven minutes.
In an enthralling mix of spellbinding tennis combined with the two rock stars of the sport, Nadal and Murray battled it out in front of 17,500 fans at the majestic O2 Arena. Andy Murray showed no signs of the sluggishness that
had dogged him in his match against Federer and the start of the match against David Ferrer, as he blasted seven aces in his opening four service games. Breaking Nadal’s service was an altogether different ball game but despite that, the lanky Scotsman had
Nadal run helter-skelter all over the court.
The first set was forced to enter into a tiebreak as neither of the two players gave any space to the opposition and tried to dominate every possible point. The form of the players can be judged from the fact that the first signs
of chinks appearing in the players’ armours came during the tiebreak, as they were by the very nature of the tiebreak forced to conceive points. Nadal gave the first blow by pulling ahead of Murray to lead 3–1 in the tiebreak before Murray fought back hard
to level with him. After a humongous rally involving 36 magnificent shots, the Scotsman forced the Spaniard to acknowledge his skills by levelling off the tiebreak at 5–5.
Despite Murray’s best efforts to force Nadal’s game to falter, he was unsuccessful as Nadal engineered a miraculous set point that involved him playing a grand volley and forcing the ball to land just out of Murray’s reach.
The second set required Murray to overcome all his shortcomings and focus himself solely on levelling the match, which he did with absolute precision and exquisite style. The start of the second set saw Murray faltering with Nadal
forcing Murray to face two break points. However, Murray, who had never before come from a set down to defeat Nadal, showed his raw tennis skills as he outclassed the Spaniard on every step of the second set to take it 6–3 and level off an increasingly engaging
match in front of a charged crowd that was cheering on the local favourite.
The final set of the match ensured that the fans got their money’s worth as the Scotsman and the Spaniard duelled once more, but this time for the match. Once again both players dominated aggressively on their service games except
when on 5–4, the Scotsman gave Nadal the reason why he is considered such a dangerous opponent. The Spaniard was serving for the match but the Scotsman had other ideas and forced the Spaniard to conceive a break point. He then survived a break point on his
own serve before sending the match into the second tiebreak of the match.
It looked as if lady luck was smiling down benignly on Andy Murray as he led 4–1 in the tiebreak, but the tide changed as quickly and as silently as a deadly cheetah hunts down its prey. From 4–1, the Scotsman battled hard but
not hard enough, as Rafael Nadal sent down a scorching forehand to take the tiebreak at 8–6 and win the match; his fourth consecutive win of the event.
Nadal certainly looks as if he’s stopped the demons of last year’s group stage crash from coming back and haunting him as he looks to add the only major trophy missing from his cabinet. However, standing between him and ATP World
Tour Finals glory is 16-time major champion Roger Federer, who defeated Novak Djokovic 6-1, 6-4 in the other semifinal.
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