Murray playing Djokovic in semis
Nadal suffers rare French Open loss
A score of 15- 0 is only the start in tennis and that is how it must feel for Andy Murray as he prepares for a French Open semifinal against Novak Djokovic, the world No. 1.
Murray delivered some breathtaking stroke play Wednesday as he outclassed the indefatigable David Ferrer in four sets.
While the result extended Murray’s romp through the European clay- court season to 15 wins and no losses — and thus equalled the previous- best sequence in his career — it does not alter Djokovic’s status as the heavy favourite for the match Friday.
“I’m going to have to come up with a good game plan,” Murray said, “and try to stick to it throughout, which is something I feel I’ve done pretty well the last couple of months. Today’s result ( in which Djokovic became only the second man to beat Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros) was always a potential outcome with the way Novak has been playing.”
If Murray needs a blueprint, he should not have to look much further than the fourth set of his own match Wednesday, in which he upped the ante to complete a conclusive 7- 6, 6- 2, 5- 7, 6- 1 victory. Clearly Ferrer is not on a par with Djokovic, but he is still a nuggety scrapper who covers a huge amount of ground. And yet Murray made his opponent look ponderous in the final 32 minutes, when he swung freely and transferred his full weight into every shot.
Murray has come a long way since his last meeting with Ferrer in Paris. That took place two years ago, in his second grand slam under the stewardship of Ivan Lendl, and ended in the opposite fashion: a four- set win for the Spaniard.
Meanwhile, Djokovic ended Nadal’s 39- match French Open winning streak in a surprisingly lopsided quarter- final 7- 5, 6- 3, 6- 1.
“A match,” Djokovic said, “that I will remember for a long time.”
It’s only Nadal’s second defeat in 72 career matches at Roland Garros — and second in 95 best-of-five- set matches anywhere on the surface.