Spaniard to go for 68th tour-level title
Rafael Nadal is through to his 100th tour-level final after fighting from a set down to beat Andy Murray 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 in a thrilling contest on Saturday in the semi-finals of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters.
When he faces Gael Monfils on Sunday, Nadal will challenge for his 68th tour-level crown and ninth at the Monte-Carlo Country Club, where he won eight successive titles from 2005-12.
“I think I played a great second set in terms of mentality. In the third set, I played aggressive… It was a great match,” Nadal said. “It’s a very important week for me, being in a final here again in Monte-Carlo, winning against very tough opponents.”
The Spaniard is bidding to draw level with leader Novak Djokovic on 28 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles by claiming his first trophy at this level since 2014 Madrid, where he beat Kei Nishikori in the final.
After battling wins over Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Benoit Paire, the second-seeded Murray has improved throughout the week in Monte-Carlo and showed his best tennis as he dictated against Nadal in the first set. The Dunblane native did not hold back, and his aggression paid off as he broke Nadal to lead 4-2.
Murray squandered a 30/0 lead in the following game, but saved two break points with an ace and a forehand winner to stay in front, before breaking Nadal again to claim the opener.
Nadal looked set to mount a fightback as he broke Murray in the first game of the second set. But Murray continued to pummel away from the back of the court and was rewarded as he immediately levelled at 1-1. The Spaniard did not let slip a second break advantage though. After breaking Murray for a 4-3 lead, Nadal warmed to his task and rallied from 15/40 in the following game and went on to draw level.
It was all Nadal in the decider. The Spaniard was the one controlling the baseline exchanges and stepping in, taking advantage of a slight drop in Murray’s level. The Manacor native broke Murray in the first game of the third set and raced into a 5-2 lead. Murray made a last stand in an enthralling eighth game, saving four match points before creating two break chances. But Nadal stepped up to thwart Murray and converted his fifth match point in two hours and 44 minutes.
“The match overall was a pretty good match,” Murray said. “There were a few things I would have liked to have done differently out there. The third didn’t get off to the best start. Then obviously had a few opportunities in that last game to try to make it a bit more interesting, but couldn’t quite get the break.”
Nadal improved to a 57-4 record in Monte-Carlo as he reached the final for the 10th time. From 2005, he won 46 straight matches here before losing to Djokovic in the 2013 final.
“I am what I am today. I’m in the final of Monte-Carlo. That’s great news,” Nadal said. “Rafael Nadal of 2016 will not be the same of 2009 or 2008 again. Every year is different. Every feeling is different.”
The Mallorcan is bidding to win his first ATP World Tour title since July 2015, when he captured the clay-court crown in Hamburg. He started his 2016 campaign with a runner-up showing in Doha (l. to Djokovic) and subsequently reached semi-finals in Buenos Aires (l. to Thiem), Rio de Janeiro (l. to Cuevas) and Indian Wells (l. to Djokovic).
The 28-year-old Murray was looking to reach the final at the Monte-Carlo Country Club for the first time, after losing to Nadal at the semi-final stage in 2009 and 2011. Murray made his clay-court breakthrough last season, winning his first two titles on the dirt in Munich (d. Kohlschreiber) and at the Masters 1000 in Madrid, where he beat Nadal.
“He’s one of the best, if not the best ever, on this surface,” Murray said. “At times today, he played very well. When he does, you can’t always decide the outcome. He played some good stuff today and deserved to win.”
Monfils reaches third ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final
Gael Monfils will face Rafael Nadal in the final of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters after dismissing Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-1, 6-3 on Saturday in an all-French semi-final clash.
If he is to win his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crown, Monfils will need to overturn a 2-11 head-to-head record against Nadal. Nadal has won their past three meetings, with Monfils’ last victory over the Spaniard coming four years ago in the Doha semi-finals.
Monfils is through to his third ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final, after runner-up showings in Paris in 2009 (l. to Djokovic) and 2010 (l. to Soderling), and has done so without dropping a set.
The 13th seed carried his rich vein of form into the semi-finals and dominated the first set, allowing Tsonga just seven return points and breaking his countryman four times to seal the opener. Trailing 1-6, 1-4, Tsonga mounted a fightback, breaking Monfils to love to bring the score back to 3-4. But Monfils immediately reclaimed his lead with a break in the eighth game and served out victory in 70 minutes.
Tsonga had battled past Roger Federer in Friday’s quarter-finals and dropped to a 14-7 mark on the season. The 30-year-old Frenchman also fell in the Monte-Carlo semi-finals in 2013, losing out to Nadal on that occasion.
Monfils will contest his second ATP World Tour final of the season after finishing runner-up to Martin Klizan in Rotterdam. In a strong start to 2016, the right-hander also reached the quarter-finals at the Australian Open (l. to Raonic) and the Masters 1000 tournaments in Indian Wells (l. to Raonic) and Miami (l. to Nishikori). He has a 5-18 record in ATP World Tour finals.
Monfils will look to become the first French champion in Monte-Carlo since Cedric Pioline in 2000.
Eight-time winner Rafael Nadal recovered from a set down to beat Britain’s Andy Murray to reach the Monte Carlo Masters final.
Murray broke twice to take the opening set 6-2, but wilted under the Spaniard’s power and accuracy to lose the next two 6-4 6-2.
The win was Nadal’s seventh over Murray in eight meetings on clay and puts him into his 100th ATP World Tour final.
He faces Gael Monfils who beat fellow Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-1 6-3.
Murray beat Nadal for the first time on clay in last year’s Madrid Masters final, but his hopes of being only the third player to earn back-to-back victories over the world number five on the surface were dashed in a brutal two-and-a-half-hour encounter.
It was a match high on quality but also rancour, with both players being irked by some controversial umpiring decisions.
The match began bizarrely when Murray won the coin toss, but umpire Damien Dumusois of France asked Nadal if he wanted to serve.
Nadal pointed out the umpire’s error, but Murray graciously asked for it to be re-done, and he won that, too. This time he was asked his preference and elected to serve.
Murray was irked throughout by a lack of action from the umpire over Nadal continually breaking the 25-second rule between serves. The Spaniard was averaging 31 seconds, allowing him more time to recover.
The Scot’s patience was further tested midway through the third set when Nadal delayed his serve by claiming he had something in his eye. At the next changeover, the umpire asked Nadal if he wanted more medical attention.
Murray felt Nadal was getting preferential treatment and, after dropping his serve, hit the ball towards the umpire’s chair in frustration, prompting Dumusois to say “you have zero respect for what I do”. Murray responded by telling the umpire he didn’t know what he was talking about.
Dumusois eventually gave Nadal a time violation in the final game, but Murray felt it should have been given earlier in the contest.
Asked about his clash with the umpire, Murray told the press conference: “You can draw your own conclusions. I don’t know how much bearing it all had on the outcome.
“When you are losing at the end, it is easy to get frustrated.”
| Match stats | ||
|---|---|---|
| Nadal | Murray | |
| 2 | Aces | 4 |
| 2 | Double faults | 2 |
| 74 | 1st serve % | 51 |
| 64 | 1st serve win % | 68 |
| 57 | 2nd serve win % | 44 |
| 62 | Service Points Won % | 56 |
| 44 | Return Points Won % | 38 |
| 4/10 | Break points won | 3/11 |
The Scot had begun in carefree fashion and played faultless tennis in a blistering opening set, with his opponent having no answer to his accurate serving and punishing ground strokes.
He won the majority of long rallies and regularly using the drop shot to drag the Spaniard around the court.
Nadal could not keep pace with Murray’s physical intensity and earned a rebuke from the umpire when his entourage appeared to offer some courtside coaching.
Murray broke to lead 4-2 and then again on Nadal’s next service game to take the set 6-2.
The Spaniard regrouped, however, and broke Murray in the opening game of the second set only for the Scot to break back immediately.
Both players were on their limit but it was Murray who was to crack first as his serve, which had been commanding in the first set, began to falter under increasing pressure.
Nadal drove him further and further to the back of the court with punishing backhands and broke decisively at 5-3 before levelling the match.
Murray’s resistance was now broken and he began to lose focus. He dropped his serve twice to trail 4-1 in the third, and although he fought to the end he couldn’t knock Nadal out of his stride and the Spaniard took the match on his fifth match point.
Nadal said: “It was a great match. Andy played great tennis in the first set and I made him play even better. I needed something else – more intensity in my shots and I did that.
“The second set was close and anything could have happened, but I had more intensity and my shots were harder and longer and that was probably the difference.”
Speaking about reaching his 100th ATP World Tour final, he added: “It is a great feeling. This is a very important week for me. This is one of the great tournaments in my career and being in the final makes me very happy.”
Nadal will start a short-priced favourite when he plays France’s number 13 seed Gael Monfils in Sunday’s final.
Monfils started underdog against compatriot and eighth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the other semi, but took advantage of his opponent’s sluggishness around the court to dominate throughout.
Tsonga was a shadow of the player who beat Roger Federer in Friday’s quarter-final and even when he managed to break Monfils to get back on serve at 4-3 in the second set, he immediately lost his own again, allowing his compatriot to close out the match in comfort.
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