Murray beats Nadal to win Japan Open
October 9th, 2011 - 5:34 pm ICT by IANS
TOkyo, Oct 9 (IANS) Andy Murray of Britain dethroned defending champion Rafael Nadal of Spain 3-6, 6-2, 6-0 to clinch the men’s singles title at the Japan Open tennis championship here Sunday.
World No. 2 Nadal had not lost a set enroute to the final. He was quick to win the first set in the final but failed to keep up the momentum and lost the next two.
“I played some great tennis especially in the third set,” the second seeded Xinhua quoted Murray as saying. “There were a lot of close games towards the end of the first set and the beginning of the second, I managed to get a momentum and didn’t give him many chances after that.”
Before the match, Nadal has beaten Murray five times in a row. With the fresh win, Murray has won 21 of his 22 matches since mid-August, with the lone loss to Nadal in the US Open semifinals.
Murray has set his goal to take Roger Federer’s No.3 ranking this autumn. “I am going to keep on trying to win, trying to improve… and trying to get there at the end of the year…”
The two will fly to Shanghai to play the Masters next week.
“I played well the last few months - in Cincinnati and U.S. Open so if I can carry on that to Shanghai…,” said Murray.
- Nadal overcomes Tsonga, faces Murray in semis - Mar 29, 2012
- Federer out of top three for the first time since 2003 - Oct 17, 2011
- US Open: Top four men cruise into semis - Sep 10, 2011
- Nadal beats Federer, wins sixth French Open crown (Lead) - Jun 06, 2011
- Nadal beats Murray, to meet Djokovic in Wimbledon final (Lead) - Jul 02, 2011
- Murray wins Shanghai Masters, to replace Federer as World No.3 - Oct 16, 2011
- Nadal wins his seventh Barcelona Open title - Apr 30, 2012
- Australian Open: Djokovic edges out Murray, meets Nadal in final - Jan 28, 2012
- US Open: Nadal ousts Murray, sets up final clash with Djokovic - Sep 11, 2011
- French Open: Top seeds advance to third round - May 31, 2012
- Borg says Murray will win US Open - Aug 25, 2010
- Djokovic pips Nadal to win longest Grand Slam final - Jan 29, 2012
- Nadal calls the Australian Open final as his toughest match - Jan 30, 2012
- Federer, Nadal in Australian Open quarters (Roundup) - Jan 22, 2012
- Federer demolishes Nadal to go into ATP Finals last four - Nov 23, 2011
Tags: andy murray, autumn, cincinnati, defending champion, fly, games, japan, masters, match, momentum, open semifinals, open tennis championship, rafael nadal, roger federer, shanghai, spain, sunday world, tokyo, xinhua