Murray masterful on clay to dethrone Nadal in Madrid

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/may/10/andy-murray-clay-rafael-nadal-madrid

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Andy Murray produced a virtually flawless performance to beat Rafael Nadal, the best clay-court player in history, on the Spaniard’s very own surface on Sunday night, winning 6-3, 6-2 to take the Madrid Masters. It was his second clay-court title in seven days, having never won one before his victory in the Munich Open last Monday, when he beat Philipp Kohlschreiber in a final postponed by rain.

That three-set duel with the German finished so late it prompted promises of an official review of scheduling on the ATP tour but Murray took it and the need to play eight matches in 11 days in his stride. He has never been one to go by the book.

Although he turned his back on the British system at the age of 15 in order to hone his talents on the clay courts of Barcelona’s Sánchez-Casal academy, the Scot has rarely looked at ease on the red stuff. With Nadal, the nine-time French Open champion, in ominously good form over the past week, few were expecting Murray to upset the form book.

But he played with an authority and conviction that belied his recent exertions and which few players other than Novak Djokovic have been able to summon against the great Spaniard on clay. Rarely has there been a better advert for burning the midnight oil. Nadal simply had no answer to Murray’s variety and consistency, cutting an increasingly forlorn figure as he was repeatedly subjected to the rare indignity of being outrallied and out-thought from the back of the court.

The defending champion’s failure to find rhythm and fluency on his legendary forehand, the cornerstone of his game, was as much down to Murray’s guile as his own shortcomings – plentiful though these were – and it was a striking feature of the match that most of Nadal’s best moments came when he advanced into the forecourt. Fine volleyer though he is, Nadal has not made his name at the net, and Murray – who had lost all six of his previous clay-court meetings with the Spaniard – seemed to sense from the outset that his opponent was vulnerable.

“I couldn’t have done much more,” said Murray afterwards, with no little understatement. “It’s one of the toughest things in tennis to try to beat Rafa on clay. It’s extremely tough and this is the reason why we play tennis – for these matches.”

Looking ahead to the French Open, which starts in a fortnight and where he was destroyed by Nadal in last year’s semi-finals, the Scot expressed quiet optimism.

“I’ve played well at Roland Garros in the past but my game wasn’t ready to win there,” he said. “I’ve played Rafa a few times on clay and this obviously gives me confidence. I don’t go in as one of the favourites but, if I play like this, I’ll give myself an opportunity and that is all you can ask.”

For Nadal, who was aiming for a third successive title in Madrid and his fifth overall, the ramifications of defeat hardly bear thinking about. The man known as the undisputed king of clay will now drop out of the top five and could be as low as nine should he falter at the Rome Masters this week.

Since the French Open seeds players strictly according to ranking, Nadal could face Djokovic, Murray or Roger Federer as early as the quarter-finals. On current form he would no longer relish facing any of them at that stage, although the same applies in reverse.

For Murray there are no such worries. “Marriage works,” wrote the gleeful Scot on the courtside camera moments after Nadal had sent yet another woeful forehand into the bottom of the net on match point. It would certainly seem so. On this evidence Murray, who recently married his long-time girlfriend Kim Sears, will have the locker room’s singletons racing for the aisle.