Rafael Nadal vs Andy Murray – Final Preview: Tokyo Open 2011
In the most awaited match of the tournament, top seeded Spaniard Rafael Nadal will square off against second seeded British Andy Murray in the title round of the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Tournament 2011, an ATP World Tour event
held on the outdoor hard courts in Koto, Tokyo, Japan on Sunday.
Both super tennis stars are facing each other for the eighteenth time but the defending champion, Nadal has a convincing lead of 13-4 in the head-to-head series against the Great Britain’s Murray. They duel each other four times
this season; at the semi-final rounds of Monte Carlo, French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. However, the higher ranked Spaniard always clinched.
In their last encounter, the high flying Spaniard fended off eight out of ten breakpoints faced due to his amazing defensive skills and capitalised on six out of eighteen breakpoint opportunities to his advantage to seal the deal
with a 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 score line in two hundred and four minutes. Murray on the other hand hammered eight aces but had a poor breakpoint conversion rate of 20 percent.
Coming from leading his country to glory in the David Cup, Nadal confidently entered the Ariake Coliseum and is on the right track to defend his title. He wiped out fourth seeded American Mardy Fish, Colombian Santiago Giraldo,
Canadian Milos Raonic and Japanese Go Soeda all in straight sets to reach this final spot.
World Number Two, Nadal gave his flawless performance this season after clinching three titles on the clay (Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Roland Garros) and making final berths at Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid, Rome, Wimbledon and US
Open. However, he lost to Novak Djokovic in all of these title round matches.
25-year-old also displayed exceptional skills in his last match against the fourth seed of this tournament. He faced zero breakpoint and cashed in on four out of six breakpoint opportunities to his advantage to seal the victory
with a breadstick.
Facing the Spaniard on the other side is the world number four, Murray, who is coming fresh off from winning a title at Bangkok. Looking highly positive, the Scot lost just one set in this tournament and trashed third seeded Spaniard
David Ferrer in straight sets to set-up this clash. Other than Bangkok, Murray also holds a title at Cincinnati Masters 1000 event, a hard court tournament, where he earned a 6-4, 3-0 retirement victory over the world number one Novak Djokovic.
Looking at his last match performance, the British lad clobbered a lower first serve share of 52 percent but registered a tremendous 84 percent win on it. Furthermore, he saved the only breakpoint faced and capitalised on four
out of six breakpoint chances to his advantage.
Despite being an underdog against the Spanish number one, bookies would be bidding Murray to triumph at Japan. Murray just needs to fend off breakpoints faced, quickly and play his original game to upset a former world number one.
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