Rafael Nadal considers Andy Murray a real threat on clay ahead of their semi-final on Friday after they both raced time to get through their quarter-finals before darkness descended upon them.
Nadal, who is bidding for an unprecedented fifth consecutive French Open title, survived a poor start against fifth-seeded David Ferrer before turning things around to come through 4-6, 6-4, 6-0, 6-1 on Suzanne Lenglen – a court Nadal admits he was surprised to be scheduled on.
Nadal and Ferrer, the two finalists of last year’s tournament, were scheduled on the second show court rather than centre court as organisers opted to put home favourite Gael Monfils and seventh-seeded Andy Murray on Philippe Chatrier instead.
“I was a bit surprised I was not playing on the central court (Chatrier)," admitted Nadal. “There were probably reasons, which of course I understand. But to be frank, I wanted to play on the central court.”
Nadal and Murray will face-off in a rematch of the 2011 semi-finals in Roland Garros, and although the Scot’s clay court credentials are inferior to his opponent, who has won eight times in nine years in Paris, the world No1 insists Murray has always been a candidate to win the French Open.
“(Andy) can play very well on all the surfaces. It’s nothing new that he plays very well on clay,” said Nadal after his quarter-final. "It’s not the first time he’s in the semi-finals of Roland Garros. I remember an amazing match in the semi-finals against Novak in Rome when Novak was playing unbelievable in 2011, and he was very close to beating him. It was on clay. He’s a candidate to win here.”
Nadal hit an uncharacteristic 15 unforced errors in the opening set, and even though he recovered from 1-3 down, he ended up losing the set to Ferrer, who was in control of most of the rallies and was successful in all five net approaches he made in the set.
“It's amazing how many mistakes I made with my backhand today,” said a perplexed Nadal. “It's difficult to understand, because the last two days I was practicing the best that I have practiced in a long time ago in terms of feeling with my forehand, with my backhand.”
The Mallorcan broke Ferrer in the third game of the second set and held on to level the match before running away with the third and fourth games.
Ferrer concedes he was extremely disappointed with his own form.
“Today, I was not good enough for this match, I lost my focus. I was too slow, and I think I didn’t play the game of a top-10 player. This is why I’m sad. It’s my own attitude, my behaviour on the court,” said the 2013 runner-up.
Over on Chatrier, Murray was on his way to a straight sets win before Monfils rallied back, taking advantage of a partisan crowd to draw level and force a fifth set.
But in a bizarre shift in momentum, Monfils completely collapsed in the fifth to give Murray a 6-4, 6-1, 4-6, 1-6, 6-0 victory and a 14th appearance in a Grand Slam semi-final – the most by any British man.
