Madrid, May 11 (IANS/EFE) Britain’s Andy Murray, the No. 2 seed, rolled over defending champion Rafael Nadal of Spain 6-3, 6-2 in the final of the Madrid Open.
Murray needed an hour and 28 minutes, on Sunday, to beat Nadal, who had won the title in Madrid for the past two years.
The 27-year-old Murray dominated Nadal, a nine-time French Open champion, on the red clay in the Spanish capital.
Nadal has won the Madrid Open four times, once on an indoor hard court in 2005 and three times on his favoured clay-court surface (2010, 2013 and 2014).
He lost in the 2009 final to Swiss great Roger Federer and in the 2011 final to Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, the current world No. 1.
The Spaniard has had a disappointing start to this year’s clay-court campaign, including losses in Monte Carlo, Barcelona and now Madrid, all events he dominated over the past decade.
Murray’s win over the 28-year-old Nadal capped his best two weeks ever on clay on the ATP Tour.
The Scot won the final in Munich last Monday, marking his first title on clay, and has now won his first Masters 1000 event on the slow surface.
The Mutua Madrid Open is one of the biggest clay-court events on the tennis calendar and a key tune-up for the French Open, which starts on May 24.
