Monte Carlo Masters: Resurgent Nadal sinks Murray; to face Monfils in final
Rafa Nadal continued his resurgence with a thrilling 2-6 6-4 6-2 victory over world number two Andy Murray on Saturday to reach the final of the Monte Carlo Masters.
Eight-times champion Nadal has struggled since losing the 2013 final to Novak Djokovic but overcame a strong early showing from Murray to book a spot in the final against Gael Monfils, who defeated countryman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the other semi-final.
Nadal started sluggishly, allowing an aggressive Murray to take the opening set before breaking serve in the seventh game of the second to take the initiative.
Another Nadal break at the beginning of the third set was a sign of things to come and the Spaniard demonstrated his mastery on clay as the momentum slipped away from the ill-tempered Murray.
In the second semi-final, Monfils thrashed his compatriot Tsonga 6-1, 6-3 in straight sets to confirm his position in the final, where he will go up against Nadal. He dominated the first set, breaking his opponent’s serve four times, to seal it 6-1.
Though Jo-Wilfried was down 1-4 in the second set, he came back to break Monfils to love, pulling the score back to 3-4, before the latter pulled away to complete the formalities, 6-3. Gael Monfils made it to his third ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final, and will need to play brilliantly to overturn his miserable 2-11 record against Rafael Nadal.