French Open: Rafael Nadal slaughters Andy Murray to reach final

Rafael Nadal during his brutal assault over Andy Murray

The king seems to have saved his best for the last. After a week of less than inspiring performances, the eight time French Open champion produced one of great vintage to mock and maul Andy Murray into an embarrassing 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 defeat to soar into the final. In a brutally one sided match, Nadal simply toyed with and tortured Murray to assert that he was ready to raise his game just in time. The Spaniard will take on Novak Djokovic in the final, as awaited as that was, if Nadal plays as he did today the Serbian will need to start worrying for his dignity with nearly 15,000 people watching on Court Phillipe Chatrier.

Murray needed a good start to ensure he had a chance at invading the king and his clay fortress. When he drew Nadal wide off his forehand and nailed a backhand winner on the line, it appeared the Brit might have a plan for his assault.

Nadal though is a master at playing each point as if it were a new mission and as he got stuck into the game, Murray’s early thrill evaporated under the Sun. The Spaniard broke serve in the second game and coasted on its wind to take a 4-1 lead, less than 20 minutes into the semi-final match.

Soon Nadal was serving for the set – a tame backhand return by Murray into the net gained him two set points and a big serve down the middle played out well enough to present Nadal a nice high putaway forehand volley to take the set.

Nadal pushed Murray into a difficult spot when he earned another break at the start of the third set. A pair of belligerent forehand winners asserted Nadal’s grip over the game, giving him two break points. Only one was needed, as Murray flew a forehand wide to surrender the break.

At 2-4, Murray compounded his situation, by making four straight errors – two off the forehand followed by a couple of backhands into the net to be broken again in the second set. The scent of opportunity filled Nadal’s nostrils and he struck with venom to seal the set in the eighth game. The Spaniard held to love as took a commanding two set lead in just over an hour.

Nadal was in imperious form and try as he may, Murray was far from making any impression on the rampant bull across the net. Murray has been spending endless hours with Mark Bender, the man entrusted with mending the back, exactly to deal with a match of this significance. But it seemed that the brutal assault of Nadal had dulled Murray’s instincts.

The intelligent Brit was struggling to sink his teeth into the meal, but there wasn’t much left anyways. The Spaniard was in voracious form and was ravaging everything in sight without remorse. When Nadal broke for a second time in the third set, he was 4-1 with a service game to follow.

In a last ditch effort, Murray found a pair of forehand winners to give himself a chance at 30-30 in the sixth game. Nadal sought to quell the uprising, gaining a game point with a beastly forehand winner. Nadal went on to hold serve and take a 5-1 lead, just a whiff from his ninth final at the grand slam tournament he practically owns.

Seeking to keep the match alive, Murray was fighting with all he had in the seventh game. But a game point went to waste, with an errant forehand sailing long. The Scot sent another wide on the next one to offer Nadal a match point. It was all he needed, as he struck a ferocious forehand to draw Murray deep and wide before finishing the remnants with a smash for a final flourish.

It was a brutally one sided encounter and a dire warning to Djokovic. The Serbian has become the sixth man in the open era to reach the final of each grand slam at least twice. Djkovic is seeking to fill the only hole in his resume, by winning the French Open on Sunday. The Serbian’s hopes though might have started dipping already, if he did witness even a part of that 100 minute mauling during which Murray won six games.

Meanwhile, it does appear that Djokovic is sick and may not be in the best shape to play the final. One can only hope that he is able use the next 48 hours to prepare as well as he can to face another Nadal assault on Sunday.