Nadal Masters Wind & Ljubicic, Murray Awaits

© AFP/Getty ImagesRafael Nadal mastered the blustery conditions to defeat Ivan Ljubicic.

World No. 1 Rafael Nadal sent out an ominous message to his rivals at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters on Friday as he mastered the blustery conditions to crush former No. 3 Ivan Ljubicic 6-1, 6-3 in the quarter-finals of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 clay-court tennis tournament.

The Spaniard has dropped just 14 games en route to the semi-finals (incidentally the same number of games he lost in last the whole of year’s championships) and is chasing a record seventh consecutive title at the Monte-Carlo Country Club, where he has a staggering 37-1 event record.

“I'm very happy about the victory. That's the truth,” declared Nadal. “Winning 6-1, 6-3 against a difficult player, he was playing well during all this tournament, is a positive result. He didn't play well [today]. That's for sure. Ivan didn't have his best day.” 

He will look to reach the final when he faces World No. 4 Andy Murray, who was equally ruthless in his 6-2, 6-1 dismissal of Frederico Gil in the final match of the day. Nadal takes a 9-4 record into the clash, including straight-sets wins in their two clay-court meetings.

Nadal vs. Murray: Head-to-Head

Looking to avenge the loss he suffered to Ljubicic in their last meeting at the 2010 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Nadal utterly dismantled the Croat on serve in the first set, breaking him four times. The only game he conceded came when he dropped his opening service game.

The 32-year-old Ljubicic was able to offer more resistance in the second set and could have pushed the Spaniard closer had he been able to convert any of the four break points he created. However, Nadal held strong, and one more break of the Ljubicic serve carried him to victory after 79 minutes.

“It was a very difficult day to play tennis,” explained Nadal. “[There was] a lot of wind, changing directions the wind all the time. In general, I didn't have mistakes. After the two first games, especially after the second one, I didn't have mistakes until the second set.
 
“So, in general, [it was a] very positive victory. [On] days like today, the most important thing is [to] win, and that's what I did, so [I'm] very happy.”

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