Murray undone by ruthless Nadal
The turning point came in game seven of the second set when the Scot wasted break points
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Thursday, 18, Oct 2007 10:25
Andy Murray has been dumped out of the Madrid Masters after a thrilling 7-6 (7/5) 6-4 defeat to Rafael Nadal.
The Scot exits at the third round stage after being undone by Nadal, who will clash with Argentina's David Nalbandian in the last eight.
Murray, 20, matched the Spaniard for most of the first set and fired seven aces.
But after saving a break point in game nine, the British number one was then broken by Nadal who took a 6-5 lead.
The French Open champion was then stunned by Murray, who broke to love to force a tie-break.
Murray began well and broke the Spaniard's serve in the tie-break but Nadal hit back with two breaks of his own to clinch the opening set.
The second set was a rollercoaster with three straight breaks of serve, Murray breaking twice to race into a 3-1 lead.
Nadal won the next game to make it 3-2 but then wasted four break points to level.
Murray survived the onslaught to take a 4-2 lead but then blew two breaks points to break the Spaniard in game seven.
Nadal, 21, punished Murray by winning three straight games to take a 5-4 lead before breaking the exhausted Scot again to seal victory.