Oct 10 2011
Andy Murray's dream run of form continued as he ended his Rafael Nadal hoodoo to win the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championship in stunning style in Tokyo.
The Scot had won 11 matches in a row going into the showpiece match, but two of his three defeats in the last four months had come against the world number two who had also beaten him five times in a row.
And Murray's horror run looked set to continue when he dropped the first set, but he found the rhythm that helped him win in Thailand a week ago and only allowed Nadal to win two more games as he ran out a 3-6 6-2 6-0 winner.
As a result, Murray was able to lift his 20th career title and improve his chances of toppling Roger Federer as the world number three before the season is out.
The way he is playing at the moment suggests he would have beaten Nadal in the semi-finals of Wimbledon and the US Open had he have showed such form back then, but normal service seemed to be the order of the day when Nadal broke Murray early in the first set.
Murray's serve was shaky throughout the set, although Nadal failed to cash in and took it with just the one break. Something happened to Murray during the end-of-set break, though, and he left his chair for the second seemingly a different player.
After adjusting some strapping on his ankle he began to dominate Nadal from the baseline and move him around, breaking through in the fourth game of the set.
Nadal, looking for a first hard court title since he won this event a year ago, then earned himself three break points at 0-40 but three aces from Murray saw him off and he then broke again to take the set and level the match.
What happened in the third set was very unlike Nadal, though, with the Majorcan almost conceding that Murray was headed for the victory as shot after shot found the corners and the baseline.
Murray broke three times to whitewash Nadal in the final set, before heading off court to prepare for the doubles final with brother Jamie. He subsequently sealed a second title of the weekend as he and his brother crushed Frantisek Cermak and Filip Polasek 6-1 6-4.