Dominant Murray two sets up against Nadal as rain halts play
Sunday, 07 Sep 2008 10:00
Andy Murray on the verge of reaching his first Grand Slam final
Andy Murray is tantalising close to reaching the US Open final as he leads Rafael Nadal two sets to nil with rain putting an end to play today.
The British number one played some astonishing tennis to take a 6-2 7-6 (7-5) 2-3, with Nadal a break to the good in the third set before the predicated rain started lashing down at Flushing Meadows. The players will have to come back at 2100 BST on Sunday to finish the match, with the with the men's final to be played on Monday.
Murray shouldn't have a sleepless night because he will know that if he plays like the way he did today then the Nadal will find it difficult to stop him reaching his first Grand Slam final.
The 21-year-old Murray was playing in his first major semi-final against a man who has win five Grand Slams title. But it was the British star who got off to the better start breaking Nadal in the third game to take a 3-1 lead.
Nadal targeted the supposedly weaker Murray forehand, but he was to find no joy on that wing as Murray hit a number of crunching forehand winners to break the Spaniard again and then serve for the set and take it 6-2.
It was all one-way traffic in the second set as Murray continued to thunder backhand and his trademark two-handed backhand winners past Nadal. The world number one looked completely bemused by what was happening to him.
Nadal had been broken only eight times in the entire tournament but he was finding it a monumental task to hold onto his serve against Murray. But for all his brilliant play, Murray was unable to convert any of the seven break points he gained on four of the Spaniard's service games.
The second set went to a tie-break and Murray would have been devastated if he had lost it after dominating the set. But despite being 4-5 down in the tie-break, the young Scot fought back to take it 7-5.
Murray's form dropped slightly at the start of the third set and Nadal took advantage to break serve. The set was tensely placed on 3-2 to the world number one when the heavens opened.