Art Seitz Andy Murray rejects the No. 1 seed, Rafa Nadal.

Murray Madness Continues as He Knocks Off Nadal

Scot to face Federer in the Final

FROM THE US OPEN – The cagey, bicep-flexing Andy Murray did what no one else could do during the summer season's premier events, upsetting No. 1 Rafael Nadal 6-2, 7-6, 4-6, 6-4 in the U.S. Open semis, and earning himself a marquee match up against four-time champion Roger Federer.

Murray put on an outstanding display in the three hour and 30 minute match, which spanned two days due to Tropical Storm Hanna, hammering Nadal with leaping groundstrokes, being a much more sure-handed player at the net and engaging in some extremely impressive defensive points against the fleet Spaniard. Nadal attempted to exhaust Murray is long baseline rallies, but Murray was able to hit through the Spaniard when he caught short balls, and his two handed backhand stood up tall against Nadal's lefty forehand. Perhaps most importantly, he knocked his returns deep enough so that the Spaniard was unable to force the action early in points.

"Every time I played him on hard courts, I've always felt like I wasn't getting pushed around the court." Murray said. " I always felt like I was dictating a lot of the points.

His strokes, although they have a lot of topspin, if you play close up to the baseline, they come to you at quite a nice height.  He doesn't normally hit the ball very close to the baseline.  He hits it obviously high with a lot of topspin, but it can come short.

If you can take your opportunities early in the rally to get a good strike in, you can dictate a lot of the points. That's what I tried to do in the past against him and had chances in each match that I played against him but just never won the big points and never returned well.  I said before the match I was going to have to return better to have a chance to win, and that's what I did.

Art SeitzMurray trailed 2-3 and was down a break in the thrid set when he came back on court and it took him a little while to regain his ethereal Saturday form. After fighting off a break point serving gat 5-4 with a 120 mph ace down the T, Nadal won the third set with a crosscourt forehand winner.

But the Spaniard was never able to establish comfortable hitting patterns, which would be his undoing. Even though he fought off seven break points in the second game of the fourth set and then  broke a briefly a despondent Murray to 3-1, he always seemed to be playing from behind on his serve, as Scot was the more ambitious and competent player on the day.

Murray broke back to 3-3 when Nadal missed a forehand and seized the momentum. In the final game, Nadal tried a drop shot out of nowhere on match point, which Murray easily ran down and pasted a backhand down the line winner.

He ended the match with 65 winners to a mere 32 from Nadal, including 21 aces.

He not only stung the Spaniard with a rapid two handed backhand crosscourt, but powered forehands down the line and moved quickly to net to close out points. 

"Well, his ranking is right now No.4 of the world, so he's there.  He don't need to be closer for be there with us," said Nadal, who threw Murray into the mix with Federer, Djokovic and himself. Andy have very good potential because he serve well and he has very good talent.  When he's playing aggressive he can beat everybody."

Nadal, who ended his summer with the French Open, Wimbledon and Olympic gold medal, simply didn't have enough energy to play the offense that would have been necessary to beat Murray for the sixth consecutive time.

"Probably more than 84 matches, no?  It's difficult, no, every day be fresh," Nadal said.

Murray will now face Federer, whom he is 2-1 against but who he never played a Slam. Both are smart and resourceful players, with the ability to play from both the back and front of the court. Serving and returning will be put at a premium, as will Murray's ability to keep his nerves in check in his first Slam final. Federer won't allow him to dictate as much, so as brilliant as Murray was on defense at key moments against Nadal, he's going to have dig himself it not points more quickly.

"We're quite natural tennis players," said Murray when asked to compare himself and Federer. " I think with our hands we're pretty gifted.  I think he plays a more aggressive style right now than me.  He'll look to come forward a bit more.  I think when we're returning; I play a bit more defensive on the return games.  I try to put a lot of returns back, whereas he maybe tries to go for a bit more on his returns. I've played well against him in the past.  I think a Slam final is different to the match that I played against him before.  He's obviously won, over 30 matches in a row here, so he's obviously going to be feeling confident going in. He's got loads of experience in these situations and it's something new for me.  I know I'm going to have to play great to have a chance of winning, but I've played well the last couple of weeks."

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