Eight-time Monte-Carlo champion Rafael Nadal rallied from a set down to beat Andy Murray 2-6 6-4 6-2 to reach his 10th final in Monte-Carlo in what is consideres as his “backyard”. Nadal beat Murray for the seventh time in eight matches on clay. Nadal qualified for his 100th career final with a win-loss record of 67-32 (27-14 at Masters 1000).
Nadal and Murray met for the 23nd time in their careers. In their previous match on clay Murray won his only match on clay in the 2015 Madrid final. Nadal now leads 17-6. Murray lost his third semifinal in Monte-Carlo against Nadal for the first time after losing their previous head-to-head matches in this tournament in 2009 and 2011.
Murray could not convert a break point in the second game and went up 0-30 in Nadal’s second service game. The first five games went on serve before Murray broke Nadal on the second of his three break point chances in the sixth game to take a 4-2 lead in the opening set. The Dunblane star wasted a 30-0 lead on his serve in the next next game but fended off two break points to hold his serve for 5-2 in the longest game of the set before getting a double break in the next game to clinch the first set 6-2 after 52 minutes as Nadal hit a forehand into the net.
Nadal bounced back by breaking in the first game of the second set with a double fault from Murray followed by a backhand from the Spaniard but Murray broke straight back to draw level to 1-1. The second set went on serve until the seventh game when Nadal broke serve to take a 4-3 lead to 30 with a forehand pass after winning a hard-fought rally. The 8th time Monte-Carlo champion recovered from 15-40 in the next game to hold his serve before closing out the second set.
Nadal earned a triple break point with an inside-out forehand. Murray saved the first chance with a backhand volley and the second with a crosscourt backhand winner but Nadal earned a third chance with a forehand drop-shot. Nadal got the break with another forehand drop shot winner.
Nadal won eight consecutive points to go up a double break in the first game at deuce with a pair of drop-shots and in the fifth game to love to cruise to a 4-1 lead in the decider with 10 consecutive points. Murray hald jis serve in the seventh game for 2-5.
Nadal sailed a forehand on his third match point. Murray saved a fourth match point with a backhand return before earning him two break points. Nadal sealed the win on his fifth match point with a running forehand after 2 hours and 44 minutes.
Nadal will be bidding to lift his ninth title at the Monte-Carlo Country Club after taking eight consecutive wins between 2005 and 2012.
Nadal has improved his win-loss record in the Country Club to 57-4. He will be bidding to win his first title since July 2015 when he beat Fabio Fognini in Hamburg. In 2016 the Spaniard finished runner-up to Novak Djokovic in Doha and reached three semifinals in Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro and Indian Wells.
Murray is chasing his third title on clay after the two wins achieved in 2015 when he claimed two back-to-back wins in Munich and Madrid.
Jamie Murray qualifies for the doubles final:
Andy’s elder brother Jamie Murray has reached the Monte-Carlo doubles final with his partner Bruno Soares with a 6-2 6-4 win over Marcelo Melo and Ivan Dodig in a 67-minute semifinal. Murray and Soares will take on either Frenchmen Pierre Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut or Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah. Herbert and Mahut beat Andy Murray and Dominic Inglot.
Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares pulled away to a 5-1 lead before wrapping up the first set 6-2. Murray and Soares in the ninth game of the second set before clinching the win on the third match point in 68 minutes.
“I knew what the situation was with the match. If we didn’t win the match, it wasn’t going to be the end of the world. I’d already got to Number 1. We played really well. We really controlled the match for the most part. They came back into it well in the second set and we got through a couple of tricky moments but we did really well from start to finish”, said Jamie Murray.
