Nadal Rises To The Occasion As Murray Falls

Britain's long wait for so much as a mens singles runner-up at Wimbledon will have to wait at least another year as Rafael Nadal came from a set down to blow Andy Murray away in four on centre court at The Championships.

Pre-match Nadal had said that if one player other than himself was to win a grand slam then he would want it to be Murray, just not this one, and no one could argue with him today, not least the Scot himself.

And yet it started so well.

Murray came out and looked supremely confident, serving two aces and winning a serve and volley point in the very first game and he continued to be aggressive throughout the first set, going toe-to-toe with the world number one. Both players held their own serve until Murray went 6-5 up and holding three set points the watching crowd smelt an upset, and that was just what they got, Murray breaking the Spaniard at the second attempt and securing the set.

The second set continued to follow very much the same pattern and in the fourth game Nadal could only hit a looping shot, the ball bouncing no more than two feet away from the net giving the home favourite a chance at two break points, but alas, he hit what should have been a simple put away long and, from then on, he totally fell apart.

The very next game Murray's serve looked shaky and a double fault gave his opponent a break point that was duly converted by the Scot on Nadal's behalf, hitting a close range shot the wrong side of the baseline. Two games later there were more mistakes off the Murray racket as Nadal broke once again before seeing out the set 6-2 on his own serve.

With Murray on the wane it didn't take long for the defending champion to take the lead, stepping up a gear and breaking the fourth seed first up in the third set thanks to yet another error from the Briton. That was Nadal's sixth consecutive game and his third break in a row, a point from which he never looked back, landing another body blow with the break in the seventh game thanks to a wonderful whipped forehand before finishing things off to take a one set lead.

Murray's confidence was clearly sapped but what was most noticable was the seeming lack of anger that is so commonly accreditted to the 24 year old. It was quite disheartening for his fans both within the confines of Centre Court and the other millions across the world watching on TV. After once again being broken in the very first game of set four, he was limping to the exit door without so much as a whimper.

There was a revival of sorts in the fourth game as Murray twice held advantage over the tournament favourite, throwing away both his opportunities at the break but with that the fire seemed to return, Murray was shouting at himself and the box that contained his entourage of family and friends. By then, though, Nadal was in full flow and there was no stopping him as he won on his second match point, thrashing a forehand past Murray's right and setting himself up for a final against Novak Djokovic, a man who will rise to the head of the world rankings no matter what the results of Sunday's final may be.

After the match Nadal had kind words to say about the opponent he felled while also expressing his delight at reaching his fifth Wimbledon final.

"For me, it's a dream to be back in the final." Said Nadal, "I'm very happy. I feel sad for Murray, I think he deserves to be in this final too. I wish him all the best for the rest of the year. He's a great champion and the only way to beat him is to be really aggressive and play some fantastic shots."

"He was playing fantastic at the beginning, but he made a mistake at the beginning of the second set and that was one of the turning points of the match."

When pressed about his encounter with Djokovic in the final the Roland Garros winner noted how tough a match it would be.

"It's always tough to play against Novak [Djokovic], he's playing fantastic this year and has only been beaten once. I've lost four times already against him but I will try my best, as always."

With Djokovic in the form of his life and Nadal looking comfortable right the way through the tournament Sunday's final should prove to be a classic that, hopefully, will put the shortcomings of British tennis to the back of everyones mind, for now at least.

Unstretched Murray Progresses At Wimbledon

There were no dramas on Wimbledon's No. 1 court as Andy Murray never broke sweat in a comfortable 6-3 6-3 7-5 victory over Germany's Tobias Kamke.

There were occasional flashes of talent from the spirited German but he never really pushed the fourth seed beyond his means, failing to take the only chance he had at a break point. Murray never broke sweat in the first set as he took the game straight to his opponent, breaking Kamke in both the first and last games. The second was much tighter in it's early stages, Murray saving a break point at 3-3 before winning three straight games to once again take the set with a 6-3 scoreline.

In what would turn out to be the final set of the match both players held firm in their service games before the breakthrough finally went the way of the Scot, taking the eleventh game off Kamke's serve before holding his own to stroll into the third round.

Though Murray's first serve percentage dropped to a measly 54 he was invariably dominant and when he got it right at the first time of asking he took 84% of the points as Kamke never imposed himself on Murray's serve, something the Scot was well aware of when he spoke to the BBC afterwards.

"I served well, but the rest of my game needs some work. He was hitting the ball flat so it was hard to get into a rhythm. I need to use my legs better, get in the right positions for the ball."

Indeed, though Murray's final victory was comfortable he failed to get himself out of second gear, not that he particularly needed to. There was no free flowing, extravagant stroke play, little flair and no impression was made as to why the Rolland Garros semi-finalist should be a true challenger for the SW19 title. He will, no doubt, have to step up his game when he takes on his next opponent, the 6'4" Croatian Ivan Ljubicic, winner today in straight sets against Sergiy Stakhovsky.

The pair have met six times previously with the current record standing at three wins apiece, Ljubicic taking the last victory 6-3 6-2 on the hard courts in Beijing last year. Five of the six meetings, in fact, have been on hard courts, the other being on carpet, meaning that this will be their first face off on grass as well as their first in grand slam tennis.

One of the most notable things about Murray's appearance was the fact that his match was scheduled on Court 1, no favouritism being shown to Britain's only remaining male by the tournament schedulers, and if it weren't for the rain holding itself back as the afternoon progressed it could have been that Murray may have had to make a return to action tomorrow as opposed to playing under the Centre Court roof until the curtailment of his game today.

The change of territory was taken in Murray's stride, however, though he did note the slight difference from his usual surroundings.

"It's a little bit different on Court One", said the Queens Club champion, "It's very open, so the sun is more of a factor."

The Scot's relegation to the 11,500 seater second court came as even more of a surprise when the order of play was released, the main event on centre being the clash between eighth seed Andy Roddick and Romanian Victor Hanescu, ranked back at 63 in the ATP standings.

At the end of the day the British number 1 will be delighted to progress into the next round having once again had the chance to test himself on the grass courts while not having a great deal of wind taken out of his sails.