Murray stuns Nadal to reach second final

MADRID: Andy Murray muscled his way into a second straight final at the Madrid Masters on Saturday with a 7-5, 6-4 defeat of Rafael Nadal, ending a spring win streak for Spain’s king of clay.

The win in two hours, 11 minutes cut short Nadal’s 13-match victory run, which had led the nine-time French Open winner to trophies last month in Monte Carlo and Barcelona.

Nadal lost the Madrid final to Murray a year ago in a shock to Spanish tennis. Murray took a giant step in holding onto his world number two ranking, but will need to lift a repeat title on Sunday in order to make sure he can stay clear of Roger Federer.

The 28-year-old earned victory as he broke Nadal after failing to serve out the win in the previous game and losing his serve .

The Scot will play for the title against either top seed Novak Japan’s Kei Nishikori.

Murray had trailed Nadal 6-17 in their career series before taking to the court at the Caja Magica. The win marked only the second for Murray over Nadal on clay, in addition to the 2015 final. Murray is bidding for a third Madrid title; he also won when the event was played on hard court.

Murray had 26 winners, going for his shots with 35 unforced errors. Nadal was dismal on break points, converting on only two of 13 chances.

In the first set, Murray secured a 5-2 lead over the fifth-seeded home hero, but saw the margin start to evaporate as Nadal broke for 4-5. But Murray held his nerve with gutsy shot making and broke in the 12th game with a down the line return winner to secure the set after more than an hour. — dpa Djokovic or