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Below-par Murray outclassed by Nadal

02/07/2008

Andy Murray has been knocked out of Wimbledon by Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals after suffering a 6-3 6-2 6-4 defeat to the number two seed.

Murray struggled with his first serve throughout the match, handing momentum to his opponent. By contrast Nadal never looked in trouble on his own serve, losing just ten points in the whole match, and made light work of the British number one.

The Scot fought valiantly but Nadal gained vital breakthroughs in the middle of all three sets to progress into the semi-finals for the third year in a row.

Nadal constantly created chances and Murray had to work hard just to retain his serve, coming back from 15-30 down in his first two service games of the match was perhaps a signal for what was to come.

As the last of the sun began to dip behind Centre Court Nadal pounced, breaking Murray to take a 5-3 lead in the first set. However, Murray will have been disappointed to have handed Nadal the break by slamming an overhead smash into the net from point-blank range.

Nadal held serve to take the first set and continued to play flawless tennis. Using his amazing racket speed the Spaniard claimed a break at 1-1 and then broke Murray again later in the second set.

The world number two did not give Murray, or the expectant crowd, much to feed off and the second break of serve in the second set appeared to demoralise Murray and his supporters.

Nadal threatened again at the start of the third set but Murray bravely saved two break points to keep the set on serve at 3-2.

The Wimbledon crowd were hoping for a comeback that would have surpassed Monday's five-set thriller against Richard Gasquet but it was not forthcoming.

Nadal levelled things at 3-3 before breaking Murray in the next game. The crowd gave the Scot a standing ovation before Nadal came out to serve for the match.

The French Open champion made no mistake and remains on course to secure a place in another grand slam final, while Murray had to be satisfied with his best performance at Wimbledon in his career so far.