Nadal Again Breaks Brits Hearts by Defeating Murray at Wimbledon
Defending Wimbledon champion Rafael Nadal has come from a set down to again end the hopes of a nation by defeating Brit Andy Murray 5-7 6-2 6-2 6-4 in the Wimbledon semi-finals.
The first set had it all as both players looked to take the early advantage. Players held serve until at 5-6 Nadal stumbled to hand Murray the first set 7-5. The crowd went wild and perhaps thought today is the day. Murray did at least have a great head-to-head record against Nadal.
In the second set games went with serve until at 2-2 Murray served a double fault at 30-30 to give Nadal a break point opportunity, one that he converted to go up 3-2. He then took advantage as Murray’s level of play dropped off and Nadal powered through to win the set 6-2.
With Murray’s unforced error tally growing fast Nadal got his third straight break and his sixth straight game to open the third set.
Murray finally managed to hold serve to make it 1-2. He held again but then Nadal went up two service breaks after breaking in the seventh game to lead 5-2. Despite a double fault Nadal was too good and served out the game to win another set 6-2.
Murray had it all ahead of him to fight his way back from two sets to one down, especially after Nadal broke the Brit in the first game of the fourth set.
With Nadal playing close to error free tennis, just one unforced error in the fourth set, there was no coming back for Murray. Nadal served out the match to advance to a finals showdown with the new world no. 1, Novak Djokovic.
Nadal had just seven unforced errors for the match compared to 39 for Murray. The winners were 37 for Nadal, 42 for Murray. Nadal was broken just once in the match.
Rafael Nadal will be playing in his fifth Wimbledon final. He lost twice to Federer (2006, 2007) before claiming the 2008 and 2010 titles. He missed the 2009 tournament through injury.
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