Murray blown away as Nadal wins in Indian Wells

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 11:30

World No.1 Rafael Nadal triumphed in the windswept Indian Wells Masters 1000 final with a 6-1 6-2 victory over Andy Murray.

Strong cross-court winds provided testing conditions throughout the match, and the Spaniard found his rhythm far earlier than Murray, running away with the first set in just 45 minutes.

“He definitely deserved the win, he played great in difficult conditions and dealt with it incredibly well” – Murray

The Scot mounted a sterner challenge at the start of the second set, before the wind again proved his undoing in the latter stages. Nadal cruised to victory with back-to-back breaks leaving him to serve for the title.

It may not have been much of a spectacle given the gale force conditions, but Nadal deserves credit for a stoic performance while Murray imploded across the net.

“He definitely deserved the win, he played great in difficult conditions and dealt with it incredibly well,” said the British No.1.

“Unfortunately I couldn’t get the job done but I’ve had a great start to the year and hopefully I can keep it going and push up the rankings.”

Murray was in trouble as early as the fourth game of the first set, when Nadal broke at the second attempt as the Scot fluffed a volley.

Nadal broke his opponent for the second successive time in game six, again picking Murray off at the net. From then on it looked as if the Scot couldn’t wait for the set to finish.

Murray emerged a more determined animal at the start of the second as he took the first game to love, and the next three games all went with serve.

But the world No.4 was becoming visibly (and audibly) frustrated with the wind, and Nadal capitalised, breaking in the fifth game after finishing a marathon rally with a wind-assisted lob.

A Murray fightback was all too late, and Nadal broke once more in game seven before serving out the match to love.

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