The Hindu : Sport : Nadal storms into the men's final defeating Murray in straight sets

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Nadal storms into the men's final defeating Murray in straight sets

Sania and Vesnina fall at the final hurdle

— Photo: AP

MANY A SLIP…Sania Mirza's weakness at the net and Elena Vesnina's troubles with the wind on court cost the Indo-Russian pair dearly in the women's doubles final.

Paris: Rafael Nadal moved to within one win of equalling Bjorn Borg's record of six titles at Roland Garros with a hard-fought yet convincing 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 semifinal 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.

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.””

Murray was playing his first semifinal 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.

Sania Mirza missed out on winning her second Grand Slam title as she and her partner Elena Vesnina lost the women's doubles final to unseeded Czech pair of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka.

Unforced errors cost the seventh-seeded Indo-Russian pair dearly, losing the summit clash 6-4, 6-3 in one hour and 21 minutes on Court Suzanne Lenglen here.

It was a good opportunity for Sania to add a women's doubles title to her Australian Open mixed doubles trophy, which she won along with compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi in 2009 but it turned out to be an off day for the Indian and her partner Vesnina. Nevertheless, Sania did create history of sorts by becoming the first Indian player to reach the women's doubles final.

Vesnina struggled with her first serve throughout and Sania's weakness at the net only helped the cause of the Czech pair.

Even the Czech players, especially Hlavackova, struggled with the first serve in windy conditions, but the Indo-Russian pair committed too many unforced errors.

A strong show by Hradecka turned out to be the real difference between the two teams as she did not drop her serve even once and had good control over her strokes.

Sania prevented a first set rout when she held serve in the seventh game when they were down 1-5. They made it 4-5 after breaking Hlavackova in the eighth game. But Hradecka served out the first set.

Vesnina failed to hold even once in the second set. Hlavackova was broken once, but that proved inadequate eventually. — Agencies

THE RESULTS

Men: Semifinals: 1-Rafael Nadal (Esp) bt 4-Andy Murray (Gbr) 6-4, 7-5, 6-4. Doubles: Semifinals: Juan Sebastian Cabal (Col) & Eduardo Schwank (Arg) bt 1-Bob Bryan & Mike Bryan (USA) 7-6(4), 6-3; 2-Max Mirnyi (Blr) & Daniel Nestor (Can) bt 4-Michael Llodra (Fra) & Nenad Zimonjic (Srb) 7-6(4), 7-6(5).

Women's doubles: Final: Andrea Hlavackova (Cze) & Lucie Hradecka (Cze) bt 7-Sania Mirza (Ind) & Elena Vesnina (Rus) 6-4, 6-3.

Mixed doubles: Final: Casey Dellacqua (Aus) & Scott Lipsky (USA) bt 1-Katarina Srebotnik (Slo) & Nenad Zimonjic (Srb) 7-6(6), 4-6, 10-7 .

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