Andy goes down fighting
RBS ambassador Andy Murray lost his Toronto Masters semi-final with Rafael Nadal but his awesome display of attacking tennis tested the Spaniard to the limit.
RBS ambassador Andy Murray lost his Toronto Masters semi-final with Rafael Nadal but his awesome display of attacking tennis tested the Spaniard to the limit.
Andy went into the game knowing that he had already broken new ground in the tournament, having beaten 2007 winner Novak Djokovic in the previous round. The RBS ambassador had succumbed in four previous matches with the world number three, but this time Andy was never seriously tested in a dominant 6-3, 7-6 win.
That set up the semi-final with Nadal and gave Andy an opportunity to avenge his recent Wimbledon quarter-final defeat. Although he was unsuccessful he produced a much better display this time round, matching Nadal in the early stages and coming close to breaking his serve in the second game of the match. An evenly fought, high-quality first set eventually went to a tie-break, where errors from Andy cost him dearly and he went down 7-2.
Andy then had his knee examined at the changeover before the start of the second set. Nevertheless, he came out fighting, and secured two break points in the first game of the set. Nadal had to produce his best tennis to save the break, and then to break Andy's serve in the next game, only for the young Scot to immediately break back. Another tie-break looked to be on the cards, until Nadal broke serve in game eight and successfully served out for the match - with Andy still fighting to the very end and superbly saving two match points.
As at Wimbledon, Nadal went on to win the tournament, beating Nicolas Kiefer in the final 6-3, 6-2.
It was a similar story in the doubles, where Andy and his brother Jamie - also an RBS ambassador - lost in the second round to the eventual winners, Daniel Nestor of Canada and Serbian Nenad Zimonjic.
