LONDON, (Reuters) – Rafael Nadal delved deep into his seemingly inexhaustible reserves of willpower yesterday to fight off Andy Murray in a three-hour classic and reach the final of the ATP World Tour Finals for the first time.
A ferocious contest ebbed and flowed to keep a 17,500 sell-out crowd on the edge of their seats in the O2 Arena before the world number one finally edged it 7-6 3-6 7-6.
It was a match befitting the ATP’s glitzy year-ender which could still climax with another instalment of the Rafael Nadal-Roger Federer rivalry although Novak Djokovic will aim to stop the Swiss maestro later yesterday.
One could only feel for Murray who played stunning tennis to stay with the Spaniard, who looks set to end a staggering year with the only major title still missing from his glittering CV.
Murray won five more points than Nadal during an energy-sapping contest and during a five-game stretch midway through the match appeared to have the Spanish dynamo on the ropes.
Even when Nadal roared back to take a 5-3 lead in the decider Murray refused to buckle and he saved two match points before finally succumbing.
Eleven of the 12 round robin matches here had been won in straight sets but when the gloves came off yesterday, Murray and Nadal served up a long-overdue knockout blockbuster.
“I kind of knew when I was out there that it was a great match,” Murray, who will end the year fourth in the rankings, told reporters.
“The noise the crowd made when we changed ends at 6-6 in the (third set) tiebreak was pretty incredible. It’s nice in some ways to be involved in matches like that. But it’s not nice losing them.”