Rafael Nadal moved to within one win of equalling Bjorn Borg's record of six French Open titles with a hard-fought yet convincing 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 semi-final win over a battling Andy Murray on Friday. It was a perfect way to celebrate his 25th birthday for the Spaniard, but he was made to scrap hard by the Scot who shrugged off the effects of an ankle injury to produce his best ever performance on clay.
The win sets up the five-times defending champion and top seed for a mouth-watering final on Sunday against the winner of the other semi-final opposing second seed Novak Djokovic and third seed Roger Federer. For Murray, seeded four, his feisty performance was a fitting way to end a brave campaign that saw him battle through illness, a twisted ankle and a broken tooth as he continued his quest for a first Grand Slam title.
His only regret could be only converting three of the 18 break points he had on the Nadal serve. "Andy is a fantastic player. He deserves to win a Grand Slam very soon," said Nadal. "I saved a lot of break points at important moments. The conditions were not easy with the wind changing a lot. "I will be playing next against the best player of all time (Federer) or against the best player at the moment (Djokovic), so we shall see."
Nadal went into the match as a strong favourite having taken his record at Roland Garros to 43-1 with an impressive straight sets quarter-final victory over Robin Soderling, the only man to have beaten him here.
Murray was playing his first French Open semi-final in his fifth campaign in Paris and he had lingering doubts over the right ankle he turned in his third round defeat of Michael Berrer. The first four games were closely fought and took 28 minutes to complete but by the end of them Nadal had taken a 3-1 lead after Murray failed to convert the three break points he had.
More worrying still for the Scot was that he twice winced in pain when turning and twisting on his right ankle and was clearly not fully fit. Nadal turned the screw to take a 5-1 lead but played an uncustomary sloppy game when serving for the set as Murray got back one of the service breaks. Murray said that the gusting wind had made it difficult for both players. "It was a very close match, there wasn't too much in it," he added. "I had a lot of break point opportunities, but Rafa played well at those moments. Some of them I didn't play that well.