Andy Murray completed his first victory over Rafael Nadal on clay to claim the Madrid Masters with an overwhelming 6-3, 6-2 before a stunned capacity in the Spanish capital.
Defending champion Nadal – nicknamed the “King of Clay”, due to his nine titles at the French Open and complete mastery of the surface in the last decade – had no response to British number one Murray, whose variation and shot selection was a key to maintaining a misfire factor Nadal guessing all game.
It was a major clash with Murray by failing by the Spaniard in six previous matches on the surface since their first meeting on clay in Hamburg in 2008.
“I would like to thank everyone who came to support us today,” Murray said. “To play Rafa in Spain is very difficult, but this is why we play tennis.
“To beat Rafa on clay is hard, but I’m glad I got it today. I would like to thank my team for me to get in good shape for the clay court season.
“Finally Rafa, I’m sure in a couple of weeks you’ll be back to play his best tennis before Roland Garros (French Open). I am sure that we will play many more games in the future.”
Nadal has won the Madrid title four times and admitted that he had been beaten by the better man on the day.
“He’s having a great season,” Nadal said. “Congratulations to Andy. You were better than me today. All the best to Roland Garros.
“It was very important to me, a week very postive. I’m trying to do better at the French Open.”
World number three Murray only won his first professional tournament on clay in Munich Open last week.
But I did not beat the German Philipp Kohlschreiber in the final. Here I had to deal with the best clay court player in the history of the game.
Murray’s performance was so convincing as it was impressive as he took the home crowd out of the equation, while Nadal seemed to struggle with the level of expectations.
Murray broke Nadal three times – once in the first set and twice in the second set – and handles break points against his service with more authority associated with his revered opponent.
Nadal was a hot favorite third while Murray was 40/17, but brutal forehand hit Murray was simply too good for Nadal, who could not live with the Scottish inspired despite having the support of a partisan crowd of about 12,000 that it was almost a match of the Davis Cup.
“I think I played a very good game, I made very few mistakes and I changed the height of the ball very well I think it’s part of the reason was mistiming some of the vaccines, especially towards the end of the match” Murray said.
