Murray starts year in fine style

Eurosport - Sun, 04 Jan 18:40:00 2009

Britain's Andy Murray defeated world number one Rafael Nadal 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 in the final of the Abu Dhabi exhibition to score a crucial blow ahead of the Australian Open.

TENNIS; Andy Murray celebrates winning in Abu Dhabi, Jan 2009 - 0

The world number four had a double reason to celebrate his 2hr 43min win with this three-day event representing the first time he had beaten both Nadal and world number two Roger Federer in the same tournament.

Murray will get the chance to repeat his achievement when he joins Nadal and Federer at the Qatar Open in Doha from Monday, the opening week of the 2009 competitive season.

The Scotsman also picked up the winner-takes-all cheque of 250,000 dollars for his win over Nadal, the reigning French Open, Wimbledon and Olympic champion.

"It is a great start to the year. I worked very hard on my fitness and game in November and December and both Rafa and Roger played great tennis, so I am delighted that I could beat them," said the 21-year-old who had defeated Federer in the semi-finals on Friday.

"Right now, all I can say is that I am feeling very tired. It was a tough match and he made me run a lot. This is just the first week of the year and you do feel it in the body."

Nadal, who missed the season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai last year because of a knee injury, was playing his first event in more than two months, and was delighted with his game and health.

"Today was a very good test for the knee. It was a two hour 45 minutes of high-quality, and I'm feeling very well," said the Spaniard who now has a 5-2 record over Murray.

On Murray, Nadal added: "He was very good towards the end of last year, and he is really playing well right now. I think he has got a great chance in Australia. I thought I played very good, but obviously, Andy played a little better."

Murray took the first set after breaking Nadal on his third break point in the third game and, in almost an action-replay of the opener, the Scotsman broke in the fifth game of the second set to go 3-2 up.

But Nadal came back in sensational fashion from 15-40 down in the sixth game and won it on the first break point to even the scores at 3-3. He then took the next service game at love.

He had two set points which he converted immediately to take the second set 7-5.

The first seven games of the final set was tennis of the highest quality from both players. Almost each game went the distance and involved spectacular rallies and amazing shots.

Murray broke in the seventh game, which lasted 14 minutes, on his second break point.

Once Nadal lost that game, Murray quickly closed out the affair by breaking him again in the ninth game.

AFP

Comment 80 - 99 of 99

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  1. I AM NOT A MURRAY FAN BUT HAVE TO GIVE CREDIT WHERE IT­ IS DUE WHAT A FAB FINAL VS RAFA BEST I HAVE SEEN IN­ AGES.I THINK ANDY HAS A GREAT CHANCE OF WINNING THE­ AUSTRALIAN OPEN.GOOD LUCK TO ROGER RAFA AND ALL THE­ PLAYERS IN 09.
    ALISON.

    From AJ, on Mon 5 Jan 4:39PM

  2. Im pretty sure Tsonga will beat Murray again in­ Australia 6-0,6-1

    From sagupaan1, on Mon 5 Jan 10:03AM

  3. amazing to beat both Federer AND Nadal---- all­ within 48 hours ..,... !

    From Lucie D, on Mon 5 Jan 7:59AM

  4. well done for andy
    personally if not federer takes­ wimbledon in the far future, for sure I would like andy­ to take it!!!!!!! he has the right to. OK he is not­ english but his country belongs to UK, doesn't it?­
    but it wories me a little that he feels tired already,­ just straight after just two hard matches??????

    From Helen A, on Mon 5 Jan 7:26AM

  5. Well done Andy,Its great to see the Union Jack (Not­ Union Flag) flying for Britsih tennis atlast,Good luck­ in the season ahead xx

    From melaniebell13, on Sun 4 Jan 7:37PM

  6. All the luck for the future Andy, hope this year will­ be your most successful to date

    From holytrinity333, on Sun 4 Jan 4:38PM

  7. Congratulations to ANDY MURRAY he is true British and­ we should all be more than proud of his achievements. ­ Tim Henman was Great, and Andy Murray will be even­ Greater. So come on Andy you can and WILL WIN­ WIMBLEDON - then arise Sir Andy Murray. I have ALWAYS­ believed in you from the day you won the Junior USA­ Open so WELL DONE ANDY.
    From Barbara Bennell on Sun 4­ Jan 16.12pm

    From b.bennell, on Sun 4 Jan 4:11PM

  8. Well done Murray, you make us Brits proud. I'm a­ Scotsman who has lived in England most of my life and I­ love both countries and am proud to be British. Why­ can't all Scots feel the same???

    From Sam, on Sun 4 Jan 3:52PM

  9. ome on you jock,lets have at least one slam this year!­ From an english fan

    From Phil in Fueteventura Sun 4th­ Jan

    From phil, on Sun 4 Jan 1:09PM

  10. andy myrray is a tennis player from scotland in the­ british isles. and all should be proud of his­ sucsses.to comment on his natinality shows ignorence to­ his spot he is a man at the top of his game and we all­ should suport him i am irish and proud of the fact but­ am always happy to see sports people of the bitish­ isles doing well´
    so stop the stupid comments and back­ all our sports people.

    From Jane B, on Sun 4 Jan 1:07PM

  11. Former No.1 Roger Federer already stands relegated. The­ downturn of the current top rank Rafael
    Nadal seems to­ have started. The new year 2009 ushering in the­ champions of the likes of Murray!

    From Emmveeyem, on Sun 4 Jan 12:50PM

  12. ANDY MURRAY IS SCOTTISH BRITISH AND WILL NEVER BE­ ENGLISH THANK GOD
    KEEP IT GOING ANDY NO.1 THIS YEAR

    From Carol F, on Sun 4 Jan 12:18PM

  13. Well Done Murray !
    Murray, Novak, Tsonga - ATP race­ this year !

    From Igor K, on Sun 4 Jan 11:18AM

  14. gO murrayyy !!

    From ceko0oo, on Sun 4 Jan 10:57AM

  15. to that comment on Tim Henman being a pish poor player­ .... a pish poor player doesn't reach No. 4 in the­ ATP rankings, doesn't win 11 singles tournaments,­ doesn't reach the fourth round of all four Grand­ Slams, doesn't reach the semi finals of three Grand­ Slam tounrmanents six times in total, and doesn't­ win over USD11.5 million in career prize money. Henman­ DID all that, and until Andy Murray's rise in the­ rankings to equal (to date) Henman's No.4 ranking ,­ no male British tennis other than Greg Rusedski (who is­ half a Canadian import anyway) has had that kind of­ high consistency in the open era. In fact, pish few­ players anywhere in the World during his time have had­ that kind of consistency.

    On a future note, the very­ near future as a matter of fact, there is every­ indication that Murray, already with 8 singles­ tournament victories this early in his career, will­ definitely surpass both Henman and Rusedski's­ achievements, so I'll be watching and reading with­ utmost interest. Well done Andy, the best is yet to­ come. :-)

    From jascion, on Sun 4 Jan 10:40AM

  16. I am neither English nor Scottish but I think people­ should give Murray some credit. Afterall, he is a good­ player who just happened to beat the top two players in­ the world in the same week. Of course, Murray can be an­ obnoxious idiot but that is entirely beside the point­ !!

    From Tim, on Sun 4 Jan 10:28AM

  17. At last! A young UK tennis player with the potential to­ reach World No.1. It's been too long since this­ contry last had a true champ. BRM

    From BRIAN, on Sun 4 Jan 10:23AM

  18. u got da tennis in da palm ov hnd m8 no worries there­ go get a gslam

    From gillam85, on Sun 4 Jan 10:01AM

  19. hey murry well done i am very happy i am your fan­ since you start tenis! wish you all the best .

    From tony b, on Sun 4 Jan 9:41AM

  20. Murray is Scottish 100% born and bread. South african­ macateenis please dont comment on scotland england­ comments as your country is fcuked up.

    If Murray was­ english he would eb the best english tennis player ever­ but as he is scottish he will have to settle for being­ british right? This is the way its been for years with­ you english but times are changing and so is the­ parlament. European union all the way for Scotland.­ AAAYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEE

    From derek, on Sun 4 Jan 9:39AM
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