Posts
Andy Murray defeated Rafael Nadal 6-3, 6-2 to claim the Mutua Madrid Open 2015 title.
This was Murray's first clay court win over Rafa. He won his 10th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 trophy, received 1000 ATP Rankings points and $799,450 in prize money.
Nadal will drop to World No. 7 in the ATP Rankings, putting him outside the Top 5 for the first time in a decade.
Murray got early breaks in both sets and Nadal failed to replicate the forehand brilliance that saw him dismiss Tomas Berdych in the semi-finals as the Scott surged to victory in 89 minutes.
"I think I wasn't expecting this a couple of weeks ago, so when things are unexpected, it feels nicer," admitted Murray. "I didn't feel like I put too much pressure on myself the past couple of weeks, which is a good thing.
"Obviously to win a Masters 1000 on clay for me is a step in the right direction. It's something I had never done before. So that's good progress there. To win against Rafa on clay in a final in Spain is an extremely difficult thing to do, and I'm proud that I've managed to do that."
"I've played a couple good matches [this week], especially yesterday's match," said Nadal. "It's one of the best matches I have played in a long time. So I cannot leave Madrid not happy. I have leave happy and just delete what happened today. I will just stay with the good things that happened this week, and there are a lot of them, more good than bad. I will try to recover in Rome the feelings. I think I've made a step forward and I'm playing better. My game is better."
Photo Source: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images Europe
