CAN ANDY DETHRONE KING OF CLAY AGAIN?
Andy MURRAY will today get the chance to recreate the biggest clay court win of his career when he takes on Rafael nadal in the semi-finals of the Madrid Open.
In a repeat of last year’s final in the Spanish capital, which Murray won in straight sets, the world no 2 will tackle the resurgent Spaniard after another impressive victory, this time over Tomas Berdych.
Murray defeated the powerful Czech for the first time on clay — 6-3, 6-2 — with probably an even better performance than the one which saw off Gilles Simon in the third round.
nadal, however, should be more confident than last year after signs that he may be approaching his old form on his favourite surface.
The two met most recently last month at the same stage of the Monte Carlo Open, where Murray played an outstanding first set before losing in three to the eventual champion.
The most striking aspect of the Scot’s play this week has been the strength of his second serve. He lost just eight points on serve against Berdych while his drop shots consistently wrong-footed the Czech.
‘It’s been a big improvement in my game and that will help me a lot on the faster courts coming into the grass court season too,’ Murray said of his second serve, traditionally one of his weaker suits. ‘There’s a lot more spin on it and I can control it better which frees me up to go for more on my first serve as well, which is obviously a big advantage. It’s easy to say just hit the serve harder but you need to make technical adjustments and have coaching.’
The 28-year-old has extra incentive in that he will lose his world no 2 spot to Roger Federer unless he defends his title.
nadal, a few weeks short of his 30th birthday, yesterday showed some vulnerability when rocked by a fightback from Portugal’s Joao Sousa. In a rain-interrupted match he eventually came through 6-0, 4-6, 6-3.
yorkshire’s Kyle Edmund is through to the final of the pre-Italian Open Challenger event in Rome after beating Filippo Volandri 6-1, 6-4 yesterday. He will play Serbia’s Filip Krajinovic in what could be a preview of the davis Cup quarter-final.