Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal took the suspense out of what looked to be exciting quarterfinal matchups in Monte-Carlo. Murray crushed Milos Raonic and Nadal cruised past Stan Wawrinka to set up a semifinal showdown on Saturday.
Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal will be doing battle for the 23rd time in their careers when they collide in the semifinals of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters on Saturday afternoon.
Nadal is dominating the head-to-head series 16-6, including 6-1 on clay and 2-0 in Monte-Carlo. He beat Murray 6-2, 7-6(4) in the semis of this tournament in 2009 and again in the final four via a 6-4, 2-6, 6-1 decision in 2011. Murray managed to win their most recent clay-court contest 6-3, 6-2 in the 2015 Madrid final, but Nadal had no trouble prevailing 6-4, 6-1 at the World Tour Finals last fall.
The Spaniard has won only two clay-court titles since the 2014 French Open–none at the Masters 1000 level. With Nadal having slumped earlier this season while Novak Djokovic positively rolled through the rest of the tour, it looked as if the world No. 5 would be hard-pressed to pick up another title even on his favorite surface. But Nadal has to be considered the favorite in Monte-Carlo at this point given his own stellar play and Djokovic’s early exit at the hands of Jiri Vesely. The eight-time champion booked his spot in the semis by defeating Aljaz Bedene, Dominic Thiem, and Stan Wawrinka in straight sets.
Murray is in the midst of a much-needed productive week after falling early in Indian Wells (to Federico Delbonis in the third round) and Miami (to Grigor Dimitrov, also in the third round). The second-ranked Scot needed three sets to get past both Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Benoit Paire, even trailing Paire by a set and a double-break in the second before storming back for a 2-6, 7-5, 7-5 victory.
On second life in Monte-Carlo, Murray picked up the pace to hammer Milos Raonic 6-2, 6-0 on Friday. He faced zero break points and solved the Raonic serve an impressive five times to coast in one hour and six minutes.
“Obviously I had a couple tough weeks in Indian Wells and Miami, and I haven’t played loads of tennis since Australia,” the No. 2 seed reflected. “The first couple matches here were tough matches; didn’t play particularly well. I’m just happy I managed to fight through them and now I feel a little bit more relaxed about where my game’s at.”
Murray interview:
Murray’s performance against Raonic was encouraging, but the Canadian struggled through that affair at visibly less than 100 percent. Nadal, of course, is a much different beast than Herbert, Paire, and–on this surface–even than a healthy Raonic. The last time he faced Nadal, Murray’s mind was on clay (for the Davis Cup final against Belgium). This time, Murray will actually be on clay. Neither recipe is a good one.
Pick: Nadal in 2
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perfect serve down the middle, forehand winner!
Too many rituals on the first MP and Murray saves both.
Beautiful construction and fhdtl winner
ONCE AGAIN the forehand steps up to take control! A combination of two venomous inside-in forehands!
HAHAHAH the umpire gives a warning to Nadal!
Ah that was a lousy forehand on MP…haha…deuce
Serve and volley 😀
Hits my favorite serving spot ( wide to the forehand corner on the deuce court)
MP 2 and Murray DRILLS a backhand ROS winner CC :O
lousy forehand into the net…. BP
Nervrous is everywhere
Rafa hits an awesome inside out forehand but Andy ALMOST hit a forehand DTL winner in response! phewww
the commentator was like ‘YESSSSS…’ and suddenly got silent as he realized it was out lol
pleassee let rafa finish this asap!!
UN-REAL forehand CC! please show the RPM on that forehand cross court! SO SHORT and stingy it was ….only achievable with massiveeee top spin
Rafa gets a free point on serve as Andy misses a backhnd return!
fourth MP! GET ITTTTTTT
this WAS rome 2014 vr!! that was the turning point for rafa in 2014…let’s hope it’s the same here…
Lol yes! It was even better because Rafa dominated the final set this time!
Really hoping the bad days are behind him now. No more tentative tennis now!
100 finals for Rafa!
rafa’s forehand rises like a phoenix out of the ashes!!!
all mental, no new breeds…..
haha…like that! rising like a phoenix from the ashes!
is he ready to beat nole yet vr…??
that’s the real question now…
also, where is nny??
she should be here to witness this…
well said
VAMOOOOOOOSSSS!
Where’s Mikey W now?
getingetingetin…..
yessss!!
Amy,
I am here. You know what has been going on with me. I did record the match, but as I just posted, I did wake up to see the last game.
I am very emotional right now. Still fighting back tears of happiness! I felt that the match would go 3 sets. I will now be able to watch the replay of the match.
Rafa’s reaction at the end was amazing f!
nny, very glad you got to see the end of the match and witness rafa’s reaction up close….
very special…
So not one of the top 4 made it to the final and Rafa dismissed 2 of them! I was so wishing he could have a go at Federer in the final but it was not to be.
Vamos Rafa!
Yes, I really wanted that…
Only fitting the final shot of the match was a FOREHAND from Rafa! It was all about his forehand!
YEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!! WOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !
SOOOOO important this win! Yes, he he beat a player of Murray’s caliber in a semi final…BUT, what’s more important is that he finished the match delivering blow after blow until his opponent was knocked out rather than taking and surviving blows till the very end and finding a way.
Both ran more than 5 km which is A LOT OF running for 3 sets…
Rafa’s in the final!! YEEEAAAAASSSSS
so happy vr!!!
thanks loads for your brilliant commentary!
you’re welcome! Can’t wait to see him lift his 9th title here!
and commentators are defending Murray non-stop. They are not mentioning even once that Andy was also breaching the time limit many times!!!
sorry to keep mentioning it but you were right about the rome 14 anology….
that was the turning point for rg and i hope this is the same….
Commies actually tried to make excuses about Andy being over such as checking marks lol but claiming Rafa would still be over.
Morons.
Vamos!!! And its a relief he does not have to go thru novak for the title. If he can win tomorrow it would mean so much for his confidence and also nine titles in mc??
Murray won the first set because Rafa let him. Rafa was a bit flat in he first set as if he had no strategy for the match.
Match stats:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CgK1GhsWIAAAXHh.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CgK1JBfWEAUeNTV.jpg
🙂 🙂
I woke up in time to see the last game! Rafa stayed strong and got it done! Three sets as u predicted.
I actually am fighting back tears right now! I was thinking back to the 2010 MC when Rafa ended a 10 month title drought! This will be epic if he can win this tomorrow!
Now that was the real Rafa, fighting and serving it out!
I am over the moon!
i was just asking vr where you were and saying you should be here to see this nny!!
knew you would be in tears of joy….
Amy,
It’s the best thing I could have woken up to today!
I am so proud of Rafa! It’s been a long time since Rafa fans have been able to celebrate. But we have one more match to go!
I am going to do my best to see the final live. I want to be here live blogging with everyone.
very happy for you nny!
a great tonic for the health and spirit no??
Yes! The best!
Glad you saw the end! Monte Carlo has so often brought an end to Rafa’s bad runs and let’s hope the same will happen again
When I saw rafa’s match with Stan yesterday, I noticed that Rafa was hitting his forehand more consistently than I have seen. There was more depth and length and accuracy. From the comments here, it appears that Rafa was able to do it again with Murray.
it was poor in set 1 but really lifted in sets 2 and 3
Tightness in set 1.
Rafa wins in three!! I thought Andy would test him and take a set and he did. Good week for Andy in the end but an even better week for Rafa. VAMOS!!